


You Know Your Place In The Stars

by highladyofgothamcity



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Bad Parent Maryse Lightwood, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Kinda, M/M, Multi, Star Wars AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-27 08:31:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20043013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highladyofgothamcity/pseuds/highladyofgothamcity
Summary: Captain Alexander Lightwood is the youngest person to ever Captain his own ship under the Clave, the ruling body of the Empire made up of all the planets conquered by the people of Idris.Magnus Bane is one of the leaders of the Rebellion working to get equal rights for Downworlders like himself, the decendants of the people of Edom who were overthrown centuries ago.They should hate each other. They're enemies. But after capturing Magnus, a move that could do wonders for Alec career, a tragic accident leaves them stranded on a desert planet together. The only way off, and the only way to survive, is to learn to get along.





	You Know Your Place In The Stars

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much to my beta for this BB, miaivivisol for making this fit for the public. It would have been an utter trian wreck without you.
> 
> title is from a les mis song. No idea which one

_ This has not gone according to plan at all,  _ is the only thing that passes through Alec Lightwood’s mind as he surveys the damage. Their intel had said this was a small meeting, only a few lower leaders of the rebellion, no real threat. Go in, make a few arrests, fly the prisoners to Idris for questioning. The end.

But instead of a few faction leaders, Alec's team was walking out of here with only one prisoner; one that might get him a massive promotion.

“Boss?” Alec tears his eyes away from the burning warehouse to see Raj, one of his best officers. “The ship is ready and the prisoner secure. We're ready when you are.” 

“I'll be there in a second. And Raj? Soon as we achieve SOL, hit the med bay. You don't look so good.” His eyes are red, his voice rough. 

“Just a cold, Captain. I'll be fine.”

“All the same. I'm going to need everyone at their best. As you saw here today, he's incredibly dangerous.”

Raj mutters an agreement, salutes, and turns to walk back to the port they'd landed at. Alec gives himself a few more seconds to watch the smoke drift into the sky before following. But he can’t shake the feeling of unease.

÷÷÷

Dressed in an orange prison uniform, bare foot, and wearing shackles that kept him from doing magic, Magnus Bane is significantly less terrifying than he'd been in the middle of the battle. The inch of bulletproof glass between them didn't hurt either.

Those eyes, though. Golden cat eyes like none Alec had ever seen before. They are still terrifying. The warlock is smiling, his posture relaxed, as if he is here by choice. Alec had studied body language in school, and it is only because he was at the top of the class that he can read Bane's exhaustion now. But his eyes still burn with murder. 

Alec had overseen his ship's jump to Speed of Light, made sure everyone in his crew was alright, alerted headquarters to what had happened, then taken a quick shower and changed into his non-combat uniform and come down to the prison cells. On the way down he'd pulled up Bane's file and gone through it. Always good to know who you had in the belly of your ship.

After several seconds of observing each other in silence, Alec gestures to the shackles on Bane's wrists. 

“I imagine those are a bit of an unnecessary precaution at this point. Can't imagine you have much juice left after that show back planetside. Very impressive, I must admit.”

Understatement. The warlock had single handedly held off the _New_ _York's_ crew of thirty five long enough for his allies to escape with all their information. And then burnt the warehouse to the ground, destroying anything that might have been left behind.

He isn't sure what to expect in reply, maybe a growl or snarl. He'd been taught that downworlders were little better than animals, mindless killers like the beings from Edom that had sired them before being wiped out by the Nephilim a century ago. He really isn't expecting Bane to smirk. 

“Then why don't you come in here and take them off me,” Bane suggests, gold eyes roaming down Alec's body with predatory intent. “I've always loved a man in uniform, and this wouldn't be the first time my love of black hair and blue eyes got me in trouble.” He winks.

Alec jerks backwards slightly in surprise, his cheeks feeling hot. His stomach flutters, not in fear or disgust but something else. For the first time, it registers that even barefoot and in bright orange, his enemy is very attractive.

_ No.  _ Alec pushes that thought down, pulls up a mask of disgust. “I'd read you were a shameless freak, but flirting with a Nephilim, especially the one in charge of your capture and transport to your inevitable execution is low, even for someone like you.” 

The warlock doesn't react with anger or even surprise. Instead he looks almost... sad?

“Oh, darling, I'm sorry. I'd forgotten how deep the Clave's hatred runs. For both my kind, and the ones who love like we do. Despite what you've been told, there's nothing to be ashamed of, Alexander.”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” he says, ignoring the way his heart seems to have stopped. Men being with men, and women with women isn't  _ illegal  _ in the Empire, but it's certainly not encouraged. Especially in his parents’ house. “And it's Captain Lightwood to you.”

(He isn't going to admit that for a second he'd forgotten that his name and rank are on his uniform, and that the warlock can't read minds.)

“But  _ Alexander  _ suits you much better, no?”

He opens his mouth to say something, anything. But then the elevator door opens, and Alec turns to see Raj exiting. He frowns. “I told you to get some rest.”

Then he notices the blood on his soldier’s hands. Hands that now end in black claws. The washed out, pale skin, and the red eyes. All of this registers as Bane gasps and says what he's thinking.

“Lilithian virus.” 

Fear shoots through Alec. Long ago, the people of Idris brought peace to the Galaxy, the only real opposition to the inhabitants of the planet Edom, ruled by seven princes and their sister Lilith. Fairies and Warlocks, like the one in the cage next to Alec, were descents of the vile creatures. But vampires and werewolves were once good people turned by Edom viruses, and were still capable of passing as humans, even if their minds were twisted and evil.

But the Lilithian virus, said to have been created by the dark queen herself, was something entirely different.

Raj lunges with inhuman speed, and Alec barely manages to twist to the side to avoid being ripped to shreds. He reaches for the knife at his waist, as his gun won't be much use in such close quarters.

Raj snarls, revealing dagger sharp teeth red with blood. Alec's stomach lurches. The creature lunges, and Alec reacts on instinct, kicking it back into the wall. It is back up in a heartbeat.

Alec isn't sure how long he dodges claws and swipes with his own small blade. Eventually he trades safety for victory, claws raking across his chest as he puts his dagger in the creature's heart, then slashing its throat. Then the fight’s over, just like that.

Alec's knife clatters to the ground, and he follows, knees hitting the ground with barely registered pain. 

He stares in shock at the man he killed, Raj- a loyal soldier, a good friend. Alec's vaguely aware that he's shaking, that his breathing is coming out in ragged gasps.  _ What has he done… _

A warm hand on his shoulder anchors him; a beautifully deep voice with the barest hint of an accent saying, “Breathe now, darling. Come on, look at me.” 

Alec drags his eyes from the blood, up to warm gold eyes pulsing with sympathy and kindness. “That wasn't your friend anymore, Alexander. It was a monster, one you had to kill to save yourself,” Bane says, still gripping his shoulder. “Breathe. In, out, in, out. There you go.”

Ordinarily, having a panic attack and being calmed down by his prisoner would be cause for enormous embarrassment, which he's sure will set in soon, but his mind is still too scrambled to focus on much. But the fog clears enough to realize something.

“Wait, how did you get out?” 

He waves casually to the panel that controlled the cell door, and Alec realizes he must have thrown Raj into it during their scuffle and let the warlock out. 

“Oh.” He bolts suddenly to his feet, causing Bane to take a step back. “My crew!” By the Angel, how could he forget about them? He takes off, sprinting the opposite way Raj had come, judging the elevator too slow. Through the engine room, the water processor, to the narrow staircase that leads him to the second floor of  _ the New York _ . He's vaguely aware of Bane following.

Everyone is dead. Alec walks through the blood soaked kitchen in a daze, into the control center with his crews’ corpses slumped in their seats. The training area and med bay are the same, as are the top floor barracks. Eventually he finds himself standing in the showers, staring in shock at another dead body, this time his youngest member. Nina's brown hair is spread on the tile floor, soaked with blood and water from the still running shower.

He continues to stand there, staring, as Bane steps around him to turn off the water. He positions himself in front of Alec, blocking Nina's body from view, and pulls his eyes up to meet Alec's own with a light pull on the chin.

Alec's brain chooses this moment to point out that Bane is just a little bit taller than him. And that he's incredibly fit, and also attractive.

“Darling, please. I need you to focus just for a minute. We have more problems.”

“My entire crew is dead.” He means for the words to come out biting, but they're just as exhausted sounding as he feels. “How much worse can it get?”

Apparently much worse. Because after killing the rest of the crew, but before heading to kill them, the infected Raj had apparently taken out their communication devices, as well as their air and fuel supplies, and pulled them out of SOL. On top of that, lights flashing on a diagram of the ship shows that they won't be able to stay moving for long enough to die of oxygen deprivation. Oh joy.

Alec almost wants to laugh. A Nephilim and a warlock, drifting in space, surrounded by corpses, and running out of oxygen and fuel. This definitely hadn't been a part of today's plans at all.

A pulse of pain from his stomach reminds him that he's also injured. Great.

But while he had been throwing himself a pity party, Bane had made himself at home at one of the computers. 

“For the first time today, I think we're in luck!” he exclaimed. “I think she'll hold up long enough to get us to the nearest Habitable, a desert dwarf planet about ten minutes from here.”

Alec crosses to stand behind the warlock, who is pointing at the dwarf planet pulled up on the screen.

“Uh, one problem, Bane; this ship is meant for a crew of thirty to forty, and in case you hadn't noticed, there's only two of us.”

Bane turns so that Alec is once again looking into his  beautiful strange gold eyes. “Yeah, with a Nephilim crew. Warlocks can use their magic to run ships with half the crew normally needed. Plus, magic is the only way we're going to make it through this alive.” He offers Alec his bound wrists. “So, do we have a deal, Captain? My freedom for our lives?”

Alec hesitates, his mother's voice in his head urging him to leave the warlock to die, even at the cost of his own life. To perish rather than dirty himself by making an alliance with a Downworlder.

But it's his sister's voice in his head saying,  _ I don't know if I could stand to lose you too _ after Max's funeral. Monster or not, Bane is giving him a chance to get back to Izzy and Jace. And for that, there's nothing he wouldn't do. 

He takes Bane's wrists in his hands, laying his thumbs on the scanners. The lights turn green and they fall to the ground.

“Don't make me regret this, Bane,” he warns. “What do you need me to do?”

“First of all, call me Magnus. After all, I think several life threatening incidents should at least put us on a first name basis, don't you, Alexander? You go prep for entry to the atmosphere, and expect a rough landing. Not many ports where we're headed. I'll steer from the Captain's deck; it has the best view.” He turns, intending to head that way, but Alec grabs his arm.

“Uh, Magnus? It's Alec. Only my mom calls me by my full name. And, um, how much magic do you even have left? I thought you were drained.” 

Magnus smiles, a bright joy-filled smile that has no place on this ship, filled with the bodies of Alec's former crew.

“Oh darling, I'm barely at fifty percent. You should never underestimate a Warlock.” 

Alec is still trying to recover from the startling revelation that his new ally is apparently a lot more powerful than he'd been led to believe, when more lights start going off, reminding him of his job of preparing for a rough landing.

And rough it is, even with the gear and Magnus’ magically guided decent. There’s not much that even demonic powers can do about the sand that's acting as their landing pad. Alec slides several feet to the left, not being strapped down. 

He barely has time to turn and meet Magnus’ triumphant grin, before everything goes black.

**Part 2: Recon**

Alec wakes up in his own cabin, and for a second he convinces himself that it was just a nightmare, that he'll walk out to the deck and see his crew running around in organized chaos, a perfect unit. But then he sits up and the wound in his side throbs, breaking the illusion.

He flips the covers back to discover that he's been stripped of everything but his pants, and that the cut had been cleaned and bandaged after passing out. His heart speeds up at the thought of Bane, of  _ Magnus  _ doing all that. A male warlock. His mother would be in hysterics but Alec-

Alec isn't going to think about it. Instead he fishes a shirt out of his drawer, pulls on the boots that Magnus had set at the foot of his bed, and braces himself to walk again though the blood and bodies of some of his closest friends.

He doesn't have to. They're all gone, the blood wiped away without a trace.

The warlock is in the kitchen/dining area of the ship, drinking tea and eating a plate of eggs. He somehow has a new outfit on, and looks perfectly put together.

Alec's footsteps echo in the empty ship, but Magnus doesn't look up until he's on the other side of the table. “Alexander, have a seat. Breakfast?” He pushes a plate also piled high with eggs and bacon towards him. Alec accepts it.

“Its Alec, like I said yesterday. Uh, did you bandage my cut and er, tuck me into bed?”

“Well, it certainly wasn't your Angel that did it. I also switched your ship to ground mode, and cleaned up before crashing in your first mate’s cabin.” 

Again something twists in his stomach, dread and fear. “My crew-their bodies,”

“Burned,” Magnus assures him. “As your customs instruct.”

“Thank you.”

The downworlder must see the confusion on Alec’s face, his internal debate on why Magnus would honor their customs. His enemy's customs.

“We're not all monsters, just like not all of your people are saints, Alec. I might not understand why your bodies being burned is such a big deal, but I will always try to honor it.”

Alec isn't exactly sure how to respond to that, so he doesn't, grabbing a fork and digging into his food, food made by his enemy for him. After saving his life.

Magnus is still talking though. “My condolences for your crew, especially your first mate. There're a lot of pictures of you guys in his room.”

_ Jace.  _ By the Angel. “He's not dead.” Alec blurts. “He, he's not dead. He stayed behind on idris to finish up reports from our last mission. We weren't even supposed to get this mission, but the ship that originally did was attacked by pirates.”

The crew had been given a day off while he and Jace wrapped up some debriefs, but then the call had come through and Alec had volunteered, Jace electing to stay behind.

“ _ It's just a little meeting,”  _ he'd said. “ _ Surely you can handle that by yourself, Captain.” _

When they'd captured Magnus Bane at the 'little meeting’, Alec had known Jace would be incredibly pissed he'd missed out on capturing the infamous warlock who was said to have been one of the original founders of the Downworld Rebellion, four hundred years ago.

But he was alive. Even if the rest of their crew was dead, Alec stranded on a far away planet with an enemy that was kind and gentle, Jace and Izzy were safe at home. He wonders if they think him dead. Their ship was carrying a very dangerous prisoner and didn't arrive at the expected time, and is now off the grid. Conclusions aren't hard to draw.

“Hey, you okay?” Magnus is looking at him with concerned eyes, and Alec realizes he's been staring at the table for who knows how long. “You're not going into shock are you?”

“No. Just…lost in thought.”

“Understandable.” The rest of the meal in eaten is silence. When both plates are empty Magnus stands up. “We should split up, I think. Cover more ground, figure out exactly what we're working with. Then we can make a plan. I for one, don't intend to spend the rest of my immortal life on this wasteland planet.”

Alec can't argue with that reasoning, so they split up. 

First thing he does is check the water tank and filtration system, thankfully untouched. One thing they won't have to worry about.

The oxygen tank wasn't so fortunate. Ground mode means the ship is taking in air from outside, putting it through a filter, then sending it through the vents. But even if they could get the ship off the ground (doubtful, after the landing yesterday) they wouldn't be able to breathe for long. 

After that, Alec goes outside the ship and examines the terrain. Red sand stretches for miles in every direction, but that's about it. The  _ New York's _ solar panels are mostly intact, so they'll have electricity.  _ Not as bad as it could be _ , he reflects, leaning against the wall of the command system area and watching Magnus play around with the computer. 

Alec admittedly has very little knowledge about the navigation systems of his own ship. He knows the basics, but he'd gone to the academy to be a soldier, not a technician. 

“Well,” Magnus straightens up, “from what I can tell, we have access to all the Clave's files including the ones about this planet, small as it is. But we're offline; so if anyone updates them, we won't know it. All long-range communication devices are fried, but I  _ think  _ that if a ship were to get close enough to the planet, we might be able to get a signal to it, but it would be almost impossible.”

Alec feels his stomach drop. “So what you're saying, basically, is that we're screwed.”

“Not... exactly.” Alec scowled at him for the vague answer. “I think, given enough time and some luck, I might be able to take undamaged parts from the other computers and put them in the communications systems, long enough to contact my people and get them our coordinates.”

Alec stiffens. “ _ Your  _ people?”

Magnus narrows his eyes. “Yes,  _ my  _ people. In case you forgot, Alexander, the only reason I'm on this planet with you to save your ass is because you were escorting me to weeks of torture and eventual death. For no crime other than being born.”

Alec doesn't flinch, but its a near thing. “But you- you're a-”

“Downworlder? People are not their parents, Shadowhunter. If I were truly a demon like the one who sired me, would you still be alive? You need me far more than I need you.”

Alec swallows hard when Magnus addresses him as a Shadowhunter. The title had been won by every soldier who fought against Edom four hundred years ago, but these days, it was only awarded to the best Nephilim soldiers, those dedicated not only to peace throughout the Galaxy, but to the extermination of all Downworlders. His mother was one of perhaps a hundred in her generation, all of them overseen by General Valentine Morgenstern. 

_ All Downworlders are tricky and untrustworthy. They'll kill you without a second thought,  _ his mother's voice echoes in his head. But Magnus had been given multiple opportunities to do just that, and he hadn't. Yet.

During their argument they've somehow inched toward one another, and now they're close enough that Alec can feel Magnus’ warm breath against his face. 

And close enough Magnus can see the conflict in his eyes. 

That conflict seems to take the fight out of the warlock. He lays a hand on Alec's shoulder, which Alec doesn't shove off though he knows he should. “Look, there are good downworlders just like there are evil Nephilim. Assuming I can get a signal to my people, I give you my word that none of my people will harm you. Can you say the same of yours?”

No. No, he can't. He jerks out of his grasp, taking a step back. “Fine. But make no mistake, I might trust you, but I  _ don't  _ like you. And if this is going to work, you can't keep calling me Alexander. And for the love of the Angel, don't _ flirt  _ with me. Deal?”

The warlock smirks and Alec has the bad feeling he's just issued a challenge. And Magnus doesn't seem the type to lose. “Very well, darling. But don't worry, by the time we get off this wasteland, you're going to  _ love  _ me.”

**Part 3: Falling**

In the end, they set up two tents right next to the ship, digging a fire pit in the space between them to cook their evening meal. The first night, Alec tossed and turned, haunted by the lack of sounds coming from his ship, the ghosts of his crew, his friends. Magnus is, unsurprisingly, understanding. And wouldn't his mother be livid at his easy acceptance of the Warlock's kindness. 

His mother would be livid at most of his behavior these days, really. 

Their first week of the planet is… awkward. They move around each other, mostly ignoring the other, only really seeing their fellow castaway at meals two or three times a day. They eat breakfast together in the ship kitchen before Magnus gets to work on the communicator, and Alec finds some kind of work for himself. Lunch is whatever, whenever. For dinner, Alec often shoots one of the weird rat looking things that seem to be the only living creatures in this wasteland. They're abundant, and thankfully pretty tasty. 

Magnus tries to strike up conversation, mostly thinly veiled innuendos, but Alec has never been good at keeping a conversation going. Until day five, when Alec finally breaks and demands to know where Magnus is getting new, fancy clothes every day.

The warlock laughs, gold eyes flashing in the light of the fire, and says simply  _ magic. _

“Then why can't you just  _ magic  _ us the supplies needed to get home. Or better yet, one of those portal things warlocks can use.”

Magnus stretches his long limbs out, settling into his chair like he's preparing to be there a while. (The ship was oddly very abundant in emergency camping supplies.) 

“Well, I can only summon things from either the planet or ship I'm on, or the storage space between realms where I store most of my wardrobe for situations like this.”

“Get stranded on off the map dwarf planets with your sworn enemies often, then?” 

At that the warlock throws his head back and laughs, the first he's heard. Alec can't keep himself from grinning, a warm and happy feeling bubbling in his stomach at being able to get that sound out of him.

“So you do have a sense of humor after all,” Magnus muses, setting his bowl of stew down. “I was starting to worry. The summoning rule applies to portals as well. Trying to portal through deep space? Not something I'd recommend. And on a ship, I can only do it while cruising. While in SOL, it's too risky.

Alec nods, contemplating. He's always secretly been fascinated by Downworlder magic, and now he has an infinite source of information right across the fire.  _ What's the harm in asking? _

“So this realm storage space thing-”

The end up talking for hours, long into the night. Magnus seems a bit impressed at times, with how fast he picks up the rules of each fractions powers. To his credit, the warlock never once hesitates, always answers to the best of his ability. 

Alec relearns a few things he already knew, like the fact that warlocks are the rarest and most powerful Downworld faction. They're born of the most powerful Edomite generals and princes, and mundanes (any citizen of the Empire that is not of idris decent or a Downworlder). Because all the Edomite generals were killed, and warlocks are infertile, the current number of warlocks is most likely all the Galaxy is going to get. All warlocks were born before or right after the empire's victory, meaning they're 400 years or older. (Magnus admits he's one of the youngest in the rebellion, despite being such a high up leader.)

Fairies are the descendants of the Edomite foot soldiers. They can give birth, though it's harder for them to get pregnant. What they can't do is lie. To make up for this, most of them are masters at twisting their words.

Vampires and werewolves were once mundanes, now infected by demonic viruses. Unlike the Lilithian virus, this one doesn't turn you into a complete monster, according to Magnus. They're still the same person deep down. Vampires get amped up speed, hearing, sight, stamina, etc. The only drawbacks are the inability to ingest anything except blood, and their skin becomes extremely sensitive to light. 

Werewolves can shift between human and wolf forms at will, except for certain times when they have no control over their bodies. The wolf takes over and hunts, hungry for blood. Magnus explains that the seemingly random shifts are actually tied to the full moon on Edom. So long as it shines on the planet the virus originated from, they have no control. Most lock themselves up to avoid hurting anyone, others venture deep into the wilderness to hunt.

They talk for hours that night, until the fire burns to embers. After, Alec tosses and turns on his pallet of blankets in his tent, reality catching up to him. He just spent _ hours  _ chatting with a Downworlder, a killer and monster, like they were friends. He'd learned so much new information, but the thought of using it against Magnus and his people hadn't crossed his mind once.

The problem, Alec thought as he turned to stare at the tent ceiling, is that he doesn't _ act  _ like a monster. It was easy to hate him from afar, but getting to know Magnus, having him cook meals for Alec and bandage his wounds had created a crack in his beliefs. 

Beliefs he'd based his entire life around. Eventually he nods off, still conflicted.

That night of storytelling by the fire opens a door, and suddenly things aren't as awkward. Breakfast is filled with jokes. Alec brings Magnus lunch, and they climb the side of the  _ New York  _ and sit on top of the ship, watching the shifting sands and passing a canteen back and forth.

The biggest difference lies in dinner and afterwards. Instead of retreating into their tents, they sit and swap stories, of adventures and loved ones. 

“You know,” Magnus starts, swirling the water in his cup around, “I used to be horrified at the thought of drinking water on ship. The concept of taking urine and whatever else gets put down the sink and shower drains, cleaning it, then drinking that mess was appalling.” he shutters.

“Really? I can't imagine ever thinking that. I spent too much of my childhood on one, during my mother's various missions and campaigns, for any part of a ship to be weird to me. Besides, water filtration systems are something even the cheapest ship manufunctioner won't cut corners on. There's nothing to be afraid of.”

Instead of replying, Magnus dips his fingers in his cup then flicks water at Alec, an easy feat as they no longer sit on separate sides of the fire but right next to each other. Alec laughs, and has no choice but to retaliate. 

Ten minutes later they're both soaking wet and realizing they probably shouldn't have wasted all that water. Even with the filtration system keeping the tank mostly full, they're still stranded on a desert planet. 

But Alec's having so much fun, it's hard to worry about it.

Their conversations aren't always as light-hearted. Alec has never really had someone to confide in, fully. He loved and trusted his siblings, but he was the oldest. He had trouble opening up to them, feeling like he had to be the strong one. Also, they had a tendency to tease him mercilessly. 

But he didn't have to be strong for Magnus. The warlock had no expectations of him, and didn't judge. It was so easy to confide in him, about the pressures he felt to be the perfect son, brother, soldier. It wasn't a one way street. Magnus vented about the stress he was under as a leader of the Downworld Rebellion, especially as his people were the rarest and often older than him. In the early days, being taken seriously was a struggle. But he'd proved time and again how strong and capable he was. Still is.

Sometimes Alec wonders what his siblings would think of this friendship he's struck up with Magnus. Because there is no denying that they're friends now. It's an unlikely pairing, but it works. Once they get over their differences, once Alec sees through the prejudices he's been raised on, they just click. 

Magnus makes him want to do things, experience things,  _ feel  _ things he never has before. He's the first person Alec ever tells about his attraction strictly towards men, and though he's always suspected his sister somehow knows, it's so damn  _ amazing  _ to be able to tell a person aloud. To not be met with a slap as his mother would, or the supportive but not fully understanding smiles of Jace or Izzy. 

Magnus understands, knows what he's going through. Had said it the very first time they met.  _ The ones who love like we do.  _ Somehow he'd seen that inner turmoil in him, the self hatred, and  _ known.  _

In short, the warlock is one of the kindest, strongest, and overall best people he's ever known, no matter what Magnus might think of himself sometimes. 

At the end of the third week, laying on a blanket under the stars, inches from Magnus, Alec comes to two shocking conclusions. The first is that his mother is wrong, for the first time in his memory. Downworlders were not the vicious, bloodthirsty, uncontrollable beings that he'd been taught to fear. As Magnus had said, they were people just like mundanes and Nephilim. That means they were all a mix of bad and good, just like him.

The second is that somehow, without realizing it, he'd fallen hopelessly in love with Magnus Bane.

**Part 4: Crashing**

All in all, the revelation doesn't change much. Movies and books had always painted Being In Love as this thing that changed everything. But it doesn't.

Life goes on as usual. The long days are still hotter than hell, the night freezing. Food still tasted the same, even the large rat creatures that tasted amazing grilled and seasoned Magnus had nicknamed “Simons” for reasons he didn't explain. 

They still lie together on a blanket after the sun has set, stargazing and talking, stealing warmth from the fire and each other. Sometimes Alec would grab his tablet from it's solar-charger and they'd watch pre-recorded movies, mostly mundane romcoms Izzy downloaded for him. Magnus attempts to teach him Indonesian, the language he grew up with before the Empire set down the law that the only language that was to be spoken was Standard, to “encourage communication between cultures and make everything easier,” but Magnus said it was just another attempt to control everything in the Galaxy.

The only thing that really changes is that Alec  _ can't stop thinking about him _ . Even when the warlock isn't in his line of sight, his unique eyes haunt him. And when Magnus is close enough to touch, when their shoulders brush as they stand side by side? It's all he can do not to  _ grab  _ him and press their lips together.

Instead he stays busy. But it's hard. Because he knows Magnus is attracted to men, finds Alec attractive, and flirts with him often. Since he'd asked that first day, Magnus had toned it down, but it was still there. Magnus also knows  _ he  _ finds men attractive. They've been here nearly a standard month, and from his stories Alec knows the man he's in love with usually has sex often, and hasn't since the crash. 

All of this evidence points to one thing: If Alec were to kiss Magnus, he would most likely kiss back. Thanks to Izzy and Jace, he knows what the phrase “friends with benefits” means, and Magnus probably wouldn't be opposed to that. 

But to have Magnus physically but not emotionally? To mean nothing more than a convenient arrangement to him? It would kill Alec even more than their friendship is. To do all the things that wake Alec in the middle of the night, but without the whispered _ I love you _ -s, would be hell. 

Alec sighs, pulling off his shirt and attempting to push the thoughts from his head. Magnus sent him to dig around in the ship’s guidance systems, which can only be accessed from outside the ship. Alec knows, from similar scavenging missions, that the inside of this ship is filled with grease and oil, which is easier to get off skin in the shower than his shirts. 

Pulling himself into the belly of the ship's system, his head is so full of  _ Magnus _ that he doesn't notice the broken price of slightly rusty metal, jarred loose by the crash, sticking out, until it's cutting into his left hip. Alec hisses and pulls back. The lighting isn't that good, but the wound doesn't look very bad. He looks back up, locating the piece Magnus needs, not giving it any more thought.

That might have been a mistake, he reflects two days later, laying in his tent, running a fever, and sore as hell. 

“Of course you should have worried about it.” Magnus snaps. When did he get here? “You're an idiot who can't take care of yourself.” 

“You're mean.” Alec informs him. “But you have a pretty face.” 

Magnus’ grouchy face falters for a second. “I- what?”

“You have a pretty face. And lots of muscles. I want to kiss you on them. And your pretty face.” He squirms under the blankets. “Why are all these here? I'm hot.”

“Half an hour ago you were freezing, according to you.” Magnus snaps again, moving out of his sight. Alec wants to cry.

“Please don't be mad! I'll be better, I swear. You don't have to leave.” he panics. But then Magnus is back beside him, holding a canteen of water to his lips. The warlock's face is troubled.

“I'm not going to leave, darling. Now drink this; it'll make you feel better.” The cold feels good in his burning throat, and he takes several gulps before he registers the strange taste.

“This tastes weird.” He complains, pulling back. 

Magnus urges him to drink more, explaining: “It's medicine. It'll make you feel better.”

Alec blinks, confused. “But I'm with you, how could I be anything but great? You make everything so much better. You're so... sparkly. And hot. I love you so much.”

Magnus makes a little choked noise. Alec manages to free one of his hands from his cocoon, patting him on the knee. “It's ok, Mags. I don't just love you ‘cause you have a good face. You have a good heart, and a brain. You're so smart! You know just what to do to make me feel not sick.”

The warlock looks dazed, confused; but Alec's eyes are so heavy…

When he wakes up the tent is chilly in a way that tells him night is coming. Also, his stomach is grumbling, so it must be near dinnertime. It's loud enough that Magnus, sitting in the corner of Alec's tent, looks up from whatever he's fiddling with. “Hungry?”

He'd apparently made dinner, normally Alec's job. Stew. Magnus has to help a lot, but Alec manages to get it down his throat.

Alec's mind was fairly clear when he woke, but Magnus had given him more nasty water (for the pain in his side) and now it's a bit foggy. He's pretty sure he's dreaming now, a fact that Magnus needs to know.

“Though in most of my dreams where you’re in my tent, we normally have a lot less clothes.” He hums, then frowns. “I'm also less injured. You normally put your hands on my hips at some point, but you can't because it hurts there now. I like it when your hands-”

Said bejeweled hand clamps over his mouth suddenly, halting the flow of words. And Alec is sure this is a dream now, because  _ Magnus Bane is blushing. _ “How about no more talking,” he advises, gold eyes not meeting the Captain's. 

Stomach full and comforted by the close presence of the man he loves, it's easy to drift off again. 

÷÷÷

In the end, Alec is bedridden for two days. Two, looking back on it,  _ very embarrassing  _ days. He wakes up on the third day sore and blissfully confused about why Magnus is sleeping next to him on the pile of blankets, pillows, and sleeping pads. Then he remembers himself, drugged to the gills,  _ begging  _ Magnus not to leave him last night, bursting into tears when he first refused. 

Then he remembers all the other stuff he'd said, and wants to die. Because telling Magnus he was hot isn't  _ that _ big a deal. Magnus knows he's attractive. Telling Magnus he wants him to fuck Alec into a mattress is a “go into hiding as a hermit on an undiscovered Habitable, or possibly a space station” offence. 

But telling Magnus, several times, that he is in love with him? Definitely not something their friendship can come back from. Until they get off this planet, he's stuck with Magnus. Suddenly, Alec feels sick again, despite the Warlock's careful care and magic having healed his wound almost completely. 

Slowly, Alec slips from the tent and heads for the  _ New York _ 's kitchen, figuring the least he can do is make Magnus breakfast. 

÷÷÷

Two days pass; two days of barely talking, of skirting around each other. Alec knows it's childish, but he can't look at Magnus; can't bear the pity in the beautiful eyes that Alec wants to drown in. Pity, because Magnus is too kind to react with laughter; as if someone like him would fall for someone like  _ Alec.  _ Broken, unlovable Alec, who even his own mother left at the Academy two years before most people enter. (That year, before Jace came early as well, had been hell; surrounded by all the older kids, left to fend for himself.)

Alec spends a lot of time in the onboard gym, beating up the equipment. And a lot of time in his own head, beating himself up. 

His mother's voice returns, but this time it's not urging him to kill Magnus, it's telling him all the reasons the warlock will never love him back, will always see him as a friend _ at most.  _ After all, Alec might have come around and realized his people are wrong, but he still worked for them for years, arresting and even  _ killing _ Downworlders. 

So he hits the bag  _ again, again, again.  _ He's a traitor, and deserves this pain. He's a freak who can't make up his mind, who doesn't know who he is. Alec is a mess inside, and the bloody knuckles are just another mess on the outside. 

A single tear slips down his cheek, breaking the dam inside. He's sobbing, trembling, still  _ hitting the bag, bleeding, should have wrapped his hands, such a mess. _

His legs are shaking so hard he can't even stand, and collapses to the ground curling into himself. A voice yells his name, but it's a whisper compared to the ringing in his head. 

Then there are warm arms around him, holding Alec close, rubbing soothing circles on his back. He's still crying, still mumbling, “Why am I never good enough? Why can't anyone love me?”

“Oh, darling.” Magnus holds him tighter, hands running through Alec's hair, smoothing it out. He tilts the Nephilim's chin up, wiping away his tears. A small part of Alec, the part not drowning in self pity, sorrow, and guilt, is horrified that Magnus is seeing him like this. Again. 

“Oh you beautiful, brilliant,  _ stupid  _ angel. How could you not know.” Magnus murmurs. “You don't have to  _ get me  _ to love you. I already do.”

“You... what?”

Magnus swallows, looking  _ nervous, _ of all things.“You told me you loved me, then told me all the things you want me to...do to you. But you were so drugged and delirious, I couldn't be sure that's how you really felt. Feel. Then you got better, and you've been avoiding me ever since. I assumed you hadn't really meant it, and-”

“No!” Alec says forcefully. He goes to put his hand on Magnus’ cheek but stops, not wanting to get blood on him. The Warlock notices of course. 

“Let's go to the med bay; we'll bandage these up, then talk?” He looks so hopeful, it breaks Alec's heart.

“That sounds great.”

÷÷÷

Alec lets the warm sink water wash the blood from his knuckles, wincing slightly at the pinpricks of pain. Once they're clean, he grabs a hand towel to dry them, trying to ignore the nervous bubbling in his stomach.

It's not nervous like before a fight, or being told his parents wish to speak to him. This is a different,  _ good  _ nervousness. Kind of. He can hear Magnus digging through the cabinets behind him, looking for bandages. Because Alec was a pining moron who couldn't be bothered to wrap his hands. He takes a deep breath and turns. And promptly drops the towel in shock. 

Magnus is bent over, digging through a drawer, showing off his ass, clad in what must be the  _ tightest  _ pants in the Empire. Angel, what had he done in his past life to deserve this tortuous heaven?

Magnus stands, bandages and bottle of peroxide in hand, oblivious to his inner turmoil. The warlock waves a hand to the inspection table, and Alec hops up on the cold metal, though he shivers for entirely different reasons as Magnus makes himself comfortable between Alec's legs, taking one of his scarred and calloused hands in his own. Carefully, he pours the burning liquid over the cuts, then wrapping them in white cloth.

“Did you mean it?” Alec breaks the silence, unable to hold back the question any longer. “About, about loving me?”

Magnus looks up from his work. “Yes.” He says simply. “I started falling for you the moment we met, and all these weeks getting to know you just made it harder to resist the pull. I don't know what it is about you, Alexander. But I do know that I love you. Did you mean it when you said you love me?”

Alec swallows. “Yes. You're so unapologetically yourself. You never let anyone tell you what you can or can't do. Even if it's a terrible idea. And you see me, all the shattered, fucked up pieces of me, and you don't care. When I first met you, I thought you and your people were monsters. But you took the time to help me see past my prejudices, and forgave me for my past crimes. Not many people would do that.” 

“There is  _ nothing  _ wrong with you, Alexander Lightwood. You just needed someone to show you that.” Magnus says fiercely. Hesitates, “If you meant the parts about loving me, did you also mean the parts about what you wanted to, to do with me?  _ To _ me?”

Instead of replying, Alec leans in and kisses him. 

On the few occasions Alec had fantasized about his first kiss, it had been short and chaste, nothing more than a peck on the lips. There had always been uncertainty, and it always ended in being pushed away.

This kiss is nothing like that. It's hot, it's deep and  _ filthy,  _ all tongue and teeth. There is no uncertainty. Instead of pushing Alec away, Magnus pulls himself closer, between Alec's legs. Until their chests are pressed together, bodies separated only by Magnus’ thin shirt. Alec puts his hands on his waist, Magnus's own hands finding their way to tangle in his dark hair. At the feeling of rings pulling in his hair, Alec lets out an embarrassing moan. 

Magnus pulls back, grinning and panting slightly. “Never took you for a loud one, Alexander.” 

He flushes. “Sorry. I- sorry.”

“Don't be, darling. Gives me lots of ideas.”

“What kind of ideas?”

Magnus grabs him by the shoulders, falling backwards and taking Alec with him. Through a portal he's summoned, right into Alec's bed in his private cabin. “This kind.”

÷÷÷

After, they lay in bed, shoulders and hips touching, holding hands. Alec thinks it might be one of the happiest moments in his life, better than the day he graduated from the academy, better than when he was promoted to Captain of his own ship.

Magnus rolls over onto his side, lightly running his fingers over Alec's face. He lets his eyes drift shut, enjoying the contact, even if it's nothing compared to what they'd been doing ten minutes ago. No matter where, or how long, or how much, Magnus touching him always set off fireworks in his stomach. 

_ Magnus loves me.  _ He lets the thought roll around in his brain a bit, trying to get used to the idea.  _ Magnus loves me, and I love him. We're in love.  _ Was it really that simple? Another thought occurred to him. 

“You know, we did this all wrong.” Alec comments, opening his eyes. It's only when Magnus’ grin falters and he pulls his hand away, that Alec realizes how that sounded. 

He grabs the warlocks hand, preventing it from drawing away. “Not like that. I'm sorry. I just meant, I always considered myself a... traditional person. This kinda thing-” He gestures to their naked bodies, “Confessing your feelings and jumping straight into sex is more my siblings’ thing, not mine. Not that I regret it. It was amazing,” he adds. “Raziel, I'm messing this up so bad. I just meant that if we had met and fallen in love in different circumstances, I would probably have taken you on at least three dates before  _ kissing  _ you, much less... everything we just did.”

Magnus relaxes, his simile returning. “Oh. Third date for a kiss, huh? Not sure if I could hold myself back that long, Alexander.”

“You and me both,” Alec mutters and they laugh. “Seriously though. I want to take you out. Like, a lot. Fancy dinner, nice clothes, flowers, everything.”

“Darling, that sounds like the opposite of a good time in your book.”

“Yeah but you love all that stuff.”

Magnus gives him a look. “Dates are no fun if everyone isn't happy.”

“You being happy makes me happy.” Magnus kisses him. “You are so sweet. But seriously, I would love to go on a date with you. I have the perfect place in mind.” 

“Really? Where?”

Magnus rolls over so they're laying side by side again. “This little bar called the Hunter's Moon. One of my best pilots used to bartend there; she showed it to me one night. I have a feeling you'd like it. That’s my favorite place to drink in all of Suaka.”

“That’s a city?” Magnus hums. “Never heard of it. What planet?”

“Abbadon” he says casually. 

Alec sits up, ignoring Magnus’ noise of protest. “You're joking. Abbadon's a wasteland.” Abbadon, one of the nine moons of Edom, had been the sight of one of the final battles in the war that ended in the official beginning of the Empire. The nuclear weapons, now outlawed, had left it barren and toxic.

“Darling, the place recovered. It never had much greenery to begin with, mostly mountains. About three hundred years ago, when the rebellion was becoming, well _a_ _rebellion _as opposed to a group of Downworlders just trying to keep as many of our people alive as possible, we decided we needed both a base and safe haven. You had idris. So we build Suaka, hollowed out those mountains with magic, built a city. Suake means “sanctuary” in the language I grew up on.”

Alec flops onto the mattress, and stares at the ceiling in shock. “There's an entire  _ city _ of Downworlders? How big?”

“Um, 3000 permanent residents, including off duty soldiers and the ruling council. Which I'm a part of. Are you mad I didn't tell you about it before?” Magnus asks hesitantly. 

“Course not. Wasn't your secret to tell. Plus, the city was built to hide the citizens from my people.” Alec feels a bit sick. A city means families, children. Before Magnus, he'd thought of all Downworlders as grown killing machines. Now that he knew the truth, he's ashamed of the way he's acted in the past. 

“Alexander,” Magnus warns. “I can tell you're doing that thing where you blame yourself for decisions you made based on lies you've been fed all your life.”

Alec laughs. “Not even a month together and you already know me too well. Fine, tell me more about Suake. Distract me.”

Magnus kicks off the sheets, moving to straddle Alec. “Technically I've  _ known _ you for four weeks, we've only been together for about an hour. And I know a better way to distract you, and get to know you even better.” The joy in his gold eyes turns to lust, fingernails dragging down Alec's chest.

And who is Alec to resist an offer like that?

** _Part 5: Takeoff_ **

They end up taking down the tent Alec had been staying in, since he didn't have much in it except the pallet where he slept. Three days after their confession they decide it's stupid to pretend they need two beds. Magnus has somehow managed to make his tent seem like a home. He'd stolen two gas lanterns from the ship's camping supplies and magically altered the glass on them so they were different colors and patterns, and hung them from the slanted “roof”. A box filled with spare uniforms had been made into a table for a massive mirror and jewelry box. Ornate rugs covered the plastic tent floor.

Alec scoffs when sees it the first time. “Really, you have expensive old rugs in your magic storage unit but no way to get us home?”

“They're from Indonesia,” Magnus defends. “They remind me of the happier parts of my childhood.” Alec nods in understanding. 

Magnus had told him the story of being born, months after the inhabitants of Idris won the war with Edom and declared themselves the unopposed rulers of the Galaxy, soon after that outlawing all Downworlders, claiming them as dangerous and evil as the beings who sired them. They encouraged citizens to report all suspected Downworlder activity. 

His mother had committed suicide when he was very young, leaving him with an alcoholic stepfather. When his cat eyes had manifested, the man had wasted no time trying to turn Magnus in for the reward money. The terrified child had used his magic for the first time when he lashed out and killed the man. 

Their second night as a couple (and boy had that been an awkward conversation, discussing their pasts and their relationships. And Alec's lack thereof.) Magnus had gotten tipsy on Jace's whisky stock and spilled his guts about his awful childhood. Alec had held him as he sobbed, confessing that it had taken him a long time to accept both his powers and what he'd used them for. It hadn't been until he'd fallen in with a small group of Downworlders (that would eventually grow into the rebellion) that he'd been able to shake the fear that the Nephilim were right about his inner monster. 

“You should take me there one day,” Alec suggests. “I've never been.”

“That sounds fun. I don't visit very often but every time I do, I like to get some kind of-” His face lights up. “Alexander, you're a genius.” Magnus kisses him hard on the lips before turning and sprinting from the tent, leaving Alec standing there, very confused. 

Alec asks about it at dinner, the next time Magnus resurfaces. The warlock is tight lipped about whatever revelation he'd had, refusing to share. 

A week and a half later (exactly six weeks since the crash), Magnus led him into the control center of the ship. It was no longer the pristine room Alec remembered. Magnus had taken apart most of the computers looking for parts, taken down the navigation monitor to replace it as the screen for vid-calls. Not to mention all the sand they'd tracked in from the outside. 

“Before the Universal Language Laws that made Standard the only language people are supposed to speak,” Magnus begins, “people had to find a way to communicate. So they built these.” He waves a hand to a small silver box that sits gutted on the table, wires exposed, a very large central piece obviously missing. “They eventually streamlined the device, to little things that you could wear as easy as a communication wire spy's wear. This is an older model that I picked up at a junk sale in Indonesia one visit. 

“I was able to pull most of the parts I needed from other parts of the ship. Hence the disaster zone in here. But I needed an energy source separate from the solar panels the ship runs on, because the communication section was completely separated from the ship. There were some batteries in the ship, but none powerful enough. But the translator had a good one. I hooked it up. Hopefully it will work. Alec, I think we're going home.”

_ Home.  _ The word seemed almost foreign. His family probably thought he was dead. After all, last contact with the ship had been a message saying they were transporting a massively dangerous prisoner. Raziel, how in the world was he supposed to explain this whole thing? Falling in love with a male Downworlder probably wasn't something they'd expect to hear from him  _ ever,  _ even if Izzy had her suspicions about his preferences. And how could he go back to working for the Empire, the Clave, he now knew was completely wrong? 

The thought of never seeing Idris again, Lightwood Manor, and the wild lands he'd grown up in, was unthinkable. But so was never seeing Magnus again. His boyfriend sees the smile slip from his face.

“Darling, what is it?”

“When we get off this planet... what happens? I can't, in good conscience, go back to serving the Clave. I can't hunt Downworlders, can't hunt  _ you.  _ I love you, and I never want to live without you.”

Magnus wraps his arms around Alec's waist, pulling him close and resting their foreheads together. “It’s okay, darling. I have a plan. Well, an inkling of a plan. Let's get out of here first, yes?”

Exhale. Magnus has it under control. Everything's going to be fine. “Okay. Let's do this.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

÷÷÷

Raphael Santiago. Magnus had told him stories, and he'd seen him on the video call, had rattled off the coordinates they'd written down in preparation. But the vampire was significantly scarier in person. 

And now he was staring at Alec like he wanted to drain him of all his blood and dump his body into open space. 

The Downworld council, upon receiving their transmission, had sent a small fighter ship captained by Maia Roberts, who, according to Magnus, was one of their best pilots. They'd also sent along Raphael and Ragnor Fell, the warlock who had been filling in for Magnus on the council. 

They hadn't believed Magnus dead, Alec found out. According to Ragnor, they'd been trying to figure out which prison he was being held in, to try and break him out. “Hadn't crossed our minds that he was shacked up on some backwater barely Habitable, deflowering some Idrisian brat.” he teases. 

Magnus’ hand tightens in Alec's as he hisses, “It wasn't exactly  _ planned  _ Ragnor. And don't talk about him like that.” 

The green skinned warlock just laughs. They're strapped into the small passengers space behind the pilot and copilot seats. There's four seats for four of them, so Alec is sitting next to Magnus, facing Raphael, who is still staring at him. Alec tries not to show how uncomfortable it's making him. Ragnor and Raphael are two of Magnus’ closest friends, and so far Alec hadn't made much of a good impression on them. He curses his lack of social skills. He has a hard enough time with people he has stuff in common with. 

Instead of trying to awkwardly make conversation with his boyfriend's friends who obviously don't like him, he stutters out some excuse and carefully makes his way to the cockpit where Maia is. Carefully, because the ship is too small for a grav-generator, relying on the strategically placed bars and straps to guide his steps to the door that leads to the cockpit.

Maia sits in the seat on the left, giving him a smile as he slips into the copilot seat. At SOL it will take them four hours to get to Abbadon. Until then, there isn't much to do. 

He'd liked the werewolf the second they shook hands, she'd looked him straight in the eyes and somehow conveyed her distrust, as well as her willingness to try and get along. Also, the shirt under her leather jacket was merch for an obscure mundane book series he secretly loved (before Magnus, his only real act of rebellion).

“Hey. Those hell terrors scare you off already?”

Alec has very little pride, but enough of it not to admit that, yes, he was intimidated by them. Even if for different reasons that Maia was probably thinking. “Thought I'd give them time to catch up.” He excuses.

“That's actually a good idea. I'm sure they have a bunch of important leader stuff to catch him up on. Hurts my head to think about honesty. Makes me happy I'm just a grunt.”

“A trusted one though,” he points out. “They chose you to come rescue us.” The council was keeping Magnus’ survival and freedom hush hush until they were in Suake for reasons he doesn't know. Politics had never been his strong suit.

“True. I wasn't even allowed to bring my copilot, Lily.” She abruptly changes the subject. “So, you're in love with Magnus?”

“I-” Alec is caught off guard. “Yes?”

“You say it like you're unsure. If you're just using him-”

“I'm not. I mean, yes I love him, though obviously I'm attracted to him. That's not all it is. I'm just- not used to talking about it? ”

To his surprise, Maia laughs. “I was talking about infiltrating us to destroy us. But I suppose it's good you're not just in it for the sex.”

“Angel, no. If my people were trying to infiltrate you, they would send my sister. Or my brother if it had to be a guy. I'm way too awkward and antisocial for that kind of thing. And my mother would kill me if she knew half the stuff I'd done with Magnus.

“I'd forgotten about their unspoken law about homosexuality. Their loss. Anyhow, I'm sorry about your crew. The Lilithian virus is a bitch. I'm so glad I've never seen it up close.”

“Yeah. This was the second time for me, unfortunately. Last one took my baby brother,” he admits, trying not to picture Max's excited face the last time he'd seen him, exhilarated about his field trip that day. 

“I'm sorry again.”

“Yeah.” Alec changes the subject this time, bringing up her shirt. They turn out to have the same taste in books, and by the time the computers flash, alerting them that they're five minutes from the drop zone, they're basically best friends. 

Maia guides them into the open space above Edom's second largest moon. “You ready to meet the Downworld for real?”

Alec swallows and doesn't answer, silently sending up a prayer to whoever's listening that he doesn't screw this up. “I guess I have to be.”

** _Part 6 Suake_ **

“The thing about underground cities is that without the sun, there really is no day or night. There's lights on every block that let us see, though Downworlders have better eyesight than mundanes, and we all run on the same clock but everything's pretty flexible. Most stores are 24 hours.” Maia explains, leading Alec down a pristine marble hall. “It's weird at first but you get used to it. On the bright side, bars are never closed, which Magnus appreciates. As he once said, it's always happy hour somewhere.”

Alec nods, unable to stop the smile that slips into his face at the mention of Magnus. “Sounds like him.”

The werewolf stops in front of a door that seems the same as every other they've passed in the long hall. Insides is a cozy office with two desks, only one occupied. The man looks a bit younger than Alec, has dark hair and a wide smile that he gives them as they walk in. 

He's also a vampire, guessing from his slightly washed out skin, and the empty blood bag laying on his desk next to a coffee cup. 

“Hey! I'm Simon. Simon Lewis. You must be Alec. I've heard a lot about you. Well, Raphael messaged me and then I pulled up your official file, which is kinda creepy and stalker-ish, but that's kinda my job so I-”

“Nice to meet you.” Alec interrupts. He has a feeling that if he doesn't, the vampire might never stop talking.

Maia puts a hand on Alec's shoulder. “Si and I are supposed to help you settle in. At Magnus’ insistence, you now have full security clearance, and while he's in meetings we're supposed to answer any questions you might have.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “Magnus recruited me after he met me in the bar I used to work at, which he was a frequent patron of, so I've got plenty of embarrassing drunk stories if you wanna hear them?”

Alec ends up sitting in the empty rolling chair, Maia on Simon's desk, which is loaded down with vending machine junk food. It's basically heaven on Alec's tongue. After the first two weeks, they had run out of fresh food on the ship and had lived off military means with little flavor and a lot of protein, and those giant rat creatures he'd shoot. Which Magnus had nicknamed “Simons”. Alec tucks that info away to ask about in a bit. 

Swallowing a bit of a chocolate bar, Alec asks “So, tell me more about Downworlders. I was brought up to believe all of you are monsters or people who have no control over their violent impulses, and should be killed for the greater good. Magnus taught me that that isn't true, but I understandably wasn't told about this place until very recently. Tell me more about it?”

Maia crosses her legs. “Well, it's build under Abbadon's longest mountain range, hollowed out and stabilized by warlocks. They needed a place hidden from the Empire’s satellites, and underground actually works best for vampires.”

“We've got sensitive skin,” Simon puts in.

“It houses most of our fleet, since we don't have many locations to put all our ships in one place. Everything here is about a quarter of Idris's size, and if we pulled all our ships from the far reaches of the Galaxy, we would have a fleet almost half the size of yours. Your people's, rather.

Most of the people who live here are Downworlders, but there is a small population of mundanes who had their family Turned or are a part of the rebellion for one reason or another. You probably already know this, but Warlocks can't really be born anymore, fairies are born, wolves can be born or turned, and vampires have to be Made.”

“How do you... uh, make a vampire?”

Here Simon takes over. “You have to have vampire blood in you when you die, then are buried and crawl out of your own grave.”

“That's horrible,” Alec protests.

“Yeah. Back when I was alive, I was a mundane who worked for the Rebellion. Nothing major, my family ran a safe house. Some stuff happened, and we were found by the Empire. Long story short, I sustained a life threatening wound. The thing is, if you give consent before death, vampires can feed a mundane their blood so that they can Rise, without consequences from the higher ups. Non-consensual turning is a big no-no. The actual process was painful, and I still have nightmares about the digging myself up, but the vampire thing isn't that bad. Though not really being able to eat solid food or drinks without blood in them is...” He gestures to his coffee.

Alec thinks he might be sick. Simon looks no older than eighteen or nineteen. And he'd been  _ shot  _ by Nephilim. Had died for a cause that, at the time, hadn't been his. Raziel. 

Maia nods. “Personally I think you vamps got the worse end. To Turn someone into a werewolf, you just have to bite them and penetrate skin. Our saliva does the rest. Painful as hell, but still.” Alec actually knew that; was taught in the Academy to immediately clean any wound from a Downworlder and report it ASAP to a medic. 

“You mentioned running a safe house,” Alec says, looking at Simon, “what does that entail?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Actually I might as well just explain the entire inner workings of our little resistance.” Simon walks over to the drawing board hanging on the back wall, grabbing a marker. In big letters on the top, he writes, **The Downworld Rebellion.** Under that, smaller, he writes four names. “You already know that the Council that runs us has four seats, one for each branch of Downworlders.”

Alec nods. 

“You know Magnus, he's in charge of most of our offensive designs. If, for some reason, we needed to assemble the full fleet, he would command it. Because we're so much smaller, we rely heavily on guerrilla warfare. He also oversees our training school, which produces our official fighters. A lot of people go through basic training on our various bases across the Galaxy, and then they’re field trained. 

“Raphael Santiago, vampires. He watches over most of what goes on in this city, including our law enforcement. He oversees the department that involves investigations into breaches of our codes, like non consensual turnings. Also, surprisingly, our finances. Not alone, but he does a fair bit of it. The mountains here are rich with natural materials we can sell, mostly on the black market. 

“Meliorn, for the fae. He runs our network of spies and hackers. Spies are mostly sympathetic mundanes working in lower positions within the Idris government and military. We can sometimes sneak in werewolves or warlocks who can pass as human, but blood scans during most job hirings means that's not a common thing. Me and the guy whose desk you're sitting at, Elliot, we’re hackers. We do a variety of jobs but all of us indirectly report to him.

“Finally, Luke Garroway.” Here, Maia takes over.

“He's actually a Nephilim, or, he was; before he was Turned in an undercover op. His  _ partner,”  _ she spits the word like it's a curse, “left him to die, but was found by another of their crew. The two of them abandoned everything they knew and tried to live as mundanes on a far off dwarf planet. When they fled, Jocelyn was pregnant, and she gave birth to her daughter with only Luke to help her. Eventually, Magnus tracked them down after hearing a rumor about them. He offered them asylum in Suake, which was a very controversial decision. But they proved themselves trustworthy and a valuable asset.” Maia sounds very proud.

“I take it you two know each other?”

“Yeah. He runs the refugee rescue program, but when he just worked in it, he is the one that found me and helped me accept myself. I was raised by a long line of Empire loyalists, and believed all their lies about Downworlders unable to control their impulses. I was very close to turning myself in when he found me. He saved my life.”

Alec nods. If the fact that there's an underground city of Downworlders was a shock, learning that one of the Council used to be one of Alec's people is like being strapped to an electric chair. He suddenly wants to meet these people, something that doesn't happen often. Perhaps they can help with the random stabs of guilt and the whispers in his head that call him a traitor.

After they finish explaining the leaders of the Rebellion, they go into further detail about the people working for it. But eventually the serious talk slips into funny stories and jokes, as well as gorging themselves on even more vending machine food. 

Alec feels himself relaxing. It's surprising how easy it is to talk to these Downworlders. Simon, who was dorky and funny. Maia, with her brilliant mind and rapier wit. He's never really had friends other than his siblings (how pathetic) and then Magnus. But he'd love to call these two friends. 

But Simon is technically at work, and has to turn to his computer after a while. Alec and Maia steal Elliot's to play games on, trying to beat one another's high scores. Maia is  _ scary  _ good at the racing games. 

At one point Simon leaves for more coffee (and blood), and Alec gets up the courage to ask a question he's been wondering about all day (afternoon? Night? Whatever).

“Are you and Simon a couple?” Impressively she doesn't careen her car off the track. “What?!”

Alec shifts in his chair. “Sorry. You guys just seemed kinda,” he gestures in the air, trying to explain the looks and the laughs and the inside jokes he associates with couples. 

The werewolf sits back in her chair, having successfully crossed the finish line. “It's fine; don't apologise. It's hard to explain,” she sighs. “I like him, he likes me, we went on a few dates, but there was just something  _ missing _ , ya know. Like, I can tell we'd be great together, but when we are, it's not quite right.”

Alec doesn't know, because Magnus is his first relationship and first real interest in having one and nothing had ever felt missing in it, but he nods anyway. Before he can respond, Simon walks through the door, ending the conversation. 

÷÷÷

Simon's shift ends an hour before Magnus’ meetings end. But the vampire doesn't leave, despite obviously being exhausted. They're all falling asleep over their poker game by the time Alec's boyfriend finds them to say that they can finally go. At least for 12 hours; then Magnus has to come back and Alec will meet the council. Because that isn't nerve-racking at all.

Despite being tired, Alec denies the offer of a car and decides that he wants to walk through this city with Magnus by his side. It's only a few blocks, after all. 

He doesn't regret it. Suake truly is beautiful. When he thinks underground city, he thinks tunnels and caves. But  _ this  _ is a mountain hollowed out, a city built inside. It goes up thousands of feet, and is divided into “floors”, as the people call them. But what he loves the most is the mixture of high tech and older civilizations, a rare combination. There are cars zipping by at high speeds, shiny metal buildings that, anywhere else, would be skyscrapers. But they also pass through a platform set up as a market where people are selling handmade goods like candles and clothes. The smell of gasoline, spices, and smoke intermingle, and he loves it. 

It only takes fifteen minutes to walk to Magnus’ apartment building. An elevator takes them to the top floor and opens into a massive loft. The second the exhausted pair steps through the door, a furry blur shoots for their feet. Alec reaches for his gun, remembering he doesn't have it a split second before realizing that the threat is only a house cat. 

He relaxes, laughing as his boyfriend scoops up the infamous Chairman Meow, showering him with kisses.

The cat soon grows tired of this and squirms out of Magnus’ arms, running off into the kitchen. There's a note on the table from Catarina Loss, who Alec knows is very close to Magnus. Apparently she'd been cat-sitting while Magnus was missing, and he'd called her immediately after being split up from Alec to assure her he was alive and well. And to have her drop some clothes off for Alec.

“You really need them, babe.”

He couldn't exactly argue with that, as he was currently wearing the only clothes that had been on board the  _ New York  _ that didn't have the Empires’ stamp on it. 

Magnus decides that the grand tour can wait until they aren't both dead on their feet, and they change into pajamas and jump into bed in record time. Normally they'd fool around for a bit, but Nephilim and Warlock both are too tired to do anything more than a single, chaste kiss before snuggling up in the obscenely large bed. 

“Welcome home darling,” Magnus whispers into his ear as Alec slips away.

** _Part 7: Alicante_ **

_ Several days later _

Everything hurts. Stumbling through the dark alley, Alec curses this plan. It hurts to walk and to stand still. It hurts to breathe. He might be bleeding internally. 

Finally, he sees the lights, the massive white building that is his destination. Alec fights his way through the traffic, is almost hit by several cars. He's so close.

At last he reaches the double doors, flinging them open and stumbling into the pristine waiting area of the Clave’s base on this planet. 

The receptionist gasps at the sight. A man in a military uniform, covered in bruises and blood, and smelling like he just crawled out of a sewer probably wasn't a common sight around here. Despite the pain rocketing through his body, he manages to stand as straight as possible and choke out, “I need to speak to the commanding officer of this base, immediately.”

Then he blacks out.

÷÷÷

Alec comes to consciousness slowly, slow enough and in so little pain that he can tell he's been pumped full of drugs. His eyes flit open, and he exhales with relief. Everything has gone as planned.

He's laying in a bed in the med center of this base, which he's pretty sure is still on Kyneric, but all med centers look the same so he can't be certain. Alec is hooked to many machines, including a heart rate monitor and morphine drip. He's not handcuffed, another good sign.

There's a man in Clave uniform standing in the doorway talking to a nurse. He notices Alec sitting up in bed and dismisses her with a nod.

“Captain Lightwood, good to see you awake. I'll admit, you gave us quite the scare.” The man takes a seat in the chair next to Alec's hospital bed.

“What's the date?” He asks, voice rough. The dark haired man offers him a cup of water, which Alec takes gratefully with his right hand. The left is in a cast. Damn it, Raphael. “Right to the important questions, I see. It's been about two months since last contact with the  _ New York.  _ As you and your crew were transporting the infamous criminal Magnus Bane, and lost contact, we assumed you'd all been killed or captured. I'm Julius Pangborn, by the way.”

All is going according to plan, then.

Alec opens his mouth but Pangborn holds up a hand. “I'll let you recover. I don't want my head nurse to kill me. As soon as she clears you, we'll need a full report.” Alec nods, falling back onto the bed, playing the role of escaped POW. Because that's what he's going to be for a while.

÷÷÷

The plan was simple on paper, but in practice required a lot of skill. Alec couldn't live without his siblings, and couldn't continue life as he had before Magnus. It was Meliorn who had suggested the plan. Their spies in the higher-up ranks of the Clave's soldiers were practically nonexistent. Clary Fray, the daughter of Jocelyn Garroway, had gone undercover within the Empire, beginning in the Academy like everyone else. But Alec had already made Captain, and his mother was one of the generals and had been made a Shadowhunter several years before. It was a perfect opportunity.

Magnus hadn't wanted him to, but Alec persisted. It was dangerous, yes, but it could help many people.

Their entire cover story was based on the fact that the Empire hadn't been able to track down the  _ New York.  _ That, coupled with how dangerous and important they knew Magnus to be, led them to draw the conclusion that they'd all been killed in a prisoner escape. 

When Alec finally was let out of bed, he was taken to Pangborn's office for a vid-call to Aldertree, who quickly realized he was out of his depth and transferred him to General Valentine Morgenstern. It was a lesson in self control, that call.

Alec explained the fabricated story in as much detail he could without it being suspicious. 

After making his report to headquarters, but before the jump to SOL. They'd been outmatched but put up a good fight. His crew had been slaughtered, and he'd survived only to be taken captive for the past two months, tortured for information. Until today, when the place had been short staffed and he'd managed to escape and drag himself to the nearest Empire base.

It had been simpler than Alec thought to forge that story. They'd picked Kyneric because there had, unfortunately, recently been a massive raid on a small Downworld fox hole in this city, with several captures. That would explain why the place where he'd supposedly been held was understaffed. He gave a rough location for the old apartment building he had started from. Morgenstern mentioned that the “animals probably packed up and fled as soon as they realized you were gone, but no point in not checking it out.”

Alec agreed. The small team they'd brought had made the place look like it had been holding a hostage for the past two months, occupied by a small group of people who had packed up in a hurry. But he still grit his teeth at calling them 'animals.’

The hardest part had been making him look like he'd been held and tortured for two months. Alec still felt guilty about the look on Magnus' face when he learned their real plan for that. He'd originally told his boyfriend that he'd be glamored and Magnus, already dreading the danger of this, hadn't objected. But a glamor wouldn't hold. 

What they had actually done was tie Alec to a chair, and Raphael had beaten the crap out of him. At intervals, he stopped and let Alec drink from a cup and gave him more medicine for the pain, while Cat healed the wounds. This made it look like they'd been administered over the course of two months and healed on their own. 

Magnus had left the room after the first couple minutes, even though the meds made it so Alec didn't feel much. He felt guilty, even though it was Alec's choice, as he kept reminding his boyfriend.

Eventually the interview/debrief finished with Morgenstern congratulating him. “You did good. I know your mother, heard a lot of positive things about you. And you survived two weeks as a captive of those freaks, and managed to escape with no outside help! No one else has ever done such a thing.”

_ Because this situation is totally fabricated,  _ Alec wanted to yell at him. Maia had explained that most Nephilim they captured were  _ encanto _ ed, a skill Alec hadn't know vampires possessed. And hadn't believed until Simon had made him start taking off his clothes in the middle of the restaurant they'd been getting lunch at. 

Then their memories of the encounter were wiped and they were let go. The end. 

But they wouldn't believe him. If anyone found out about how he  _ really  _ spent those two months, he'd be arrested and probably executed, best case. Worst case, locked in a mental hospital while doctors try and “cure” him of his love for a male Warlock. 

“-as possible. I imagine you miss your family,” Morgenstern finishes. Alec nods. The only bright side of this assignment, other than the chance to help people he's hurt, is seeing his siblings. 

“Pangborn, I'll leave you to arrange it. Welcome back, Captain Lightwood.” The general's face disappears from the screen.

÷÷÷

The fastest way to Idris is a small beaten up shuttle, shipping clothes to an outpost not far from Alicante. Alec could wait a day, long enough for Pangborn to arrange a “hero worthy transport home”, but he declines. 

Even though the Downworld base Alec had “escaped” from had held very little information, he was still being hailed a hero for getting away. It made him sick. Giving his false report, further cementing the Downworlders’ image of ruthless, bloodthirsty creatures better off dead, did nothing to help that feeling. 

As soon as the shuttle lands and the captain gives him leave, Alec is off the shuttle and in the port. It's a delivery one, so it's packed with shipments and people unloading them. His family, mother and Jace in uniform, and father and sister in casual clothes, stand out like a sore thumb. 

They're facing away from the tunnel he comes out of, and he yells his sister's name. Izzy whips around and sees him, then runs. She nearly bowls several people over in her haste to fling herself into Alec's arms.

The familiar scent of her shampoo hits him as he buries his face in her hair. That, along with the familiar feeling of her arms around him, even if it's tighter than normal, makes his knees weak. He nearly cries when Jace joins them. The tight hug rubs at his wounds in an uncomfortable and slightly painful way, but that is very far down his priority list right now.

They stand like that for several minutes, reassuring themselves that this is really happening. That Alec is back with them, not dead. When they finally let go, Alec sees his parents standing a few feet away. They've never been touchy-feely with each other but Alec still pulls them into a brief embrace.

“It's good to see you, Alexander.” His mother gives him a brief smile, more than he's gotten in years. The twist in his gut at his full name from someone other than the man he loves outweighs that small victory. He and Magnus have been apart barely a day, yet he already misses him fiercly. 

The Lightwoods are quiet as they walk to the hovercar, Izzy holding tight to Alec's hand, as if afraid he'll disappear. Robert drives, Maryse in the passenger seat. Izzy and Jace put their brother between them in the back. 

“So tell me what I've missed these past two months.” Alec requests.

Jace launches right into a description of the ship he'd been appointed Captain of, the  _ Thule  _ and her new crew. Alec already knows about it thanks to Meliorn's informant. Luke and Jocelyn's daughter, Clary Fray had been undercover for several years, and pure luck had seen her transferred to the  _ Thule  _ under Jace's command as a technician and field officer. According to General Morgenstern, that ship would soon be Alec's.

Izzy explains that in his absence she had quit her cushy job at a hospital in Alicante and become Jace's first mate and the head medic on the  _ Thule. _ After believing they'd lost Alec, being apart was too hard. The car goes quiet for a moment. He squeezes his siblings hands, a reminder that he's here. To them, he's home now. 

How can he explain that for him, home is now a Downworlder who is nothing to them but the man responsible for their brother's two month captivity?

÷÷÷

His room in Lightwood Manor is far too large. He'd always thought so, but now he can  _ feel  _ it.

The bed is empty and cold, the walls too bare, the silence stifling. Alec yearns for Magnus beside him, misses tripping over trinkets and baubles left out on the floor. Missed music playing softly in another room, people on the couches and in the kitchen, all of the people who had dubbed themselves “Magnus’ strays” who let themselves in whenever they wanted. He even missed Chairman Meow chewing on his socks.

He would feel better on a ship, with a job to do. But he's on mandatory leave for two weeks, and then if he's cleared by a doctor, he can take over the  _ Thule  _ from Jace's command. 

“As it should be,” Jace says smiling. 

“You really don't mind? Stepping down, I mean.”

His brother shakes his head. They're sitting on the bed in Jace's room, watching a movie. “No. Honestly, being Captain is was more stressful than I thought it would be. First mate is so much better. Plus,” he grins. “Then I won't be  _ as  _ much of Clary's commanding officer and she might actually agree to a date.”

Alec rolls his eyes and pushes Jace off the bed.

He'd heard quite a bit about the redhead since coming home, and had met her twice, along with the rest of the new ship's crew. Jace had waxed poetic about how hot she is, and how great a marksmen. Izzy had also taken a liking to her, especially as Clary kept turning Jace down. 

Alec found it funny that despite the fact that he had met her twice, he knew more about the redhead than his siblings. He'd met her parents, her best friends. He knew the reason she'd turned Jace down was because they'd met each other while Jace had thought his brother had been killed by Downworlders and had routinely spewed hatred aimed towards Clary's family. 

“And even if I were with him,” she'd confided in him during a stolen moment during the second meet up with the  _ Thule's  _ crew, “I'd feel so guilty, having this secret from him.”

Alec understood. The urge to blurt out the truth to his siblings was overwhelming. But they wouldn't understand, would probably assume he's been brainwashed. Maybe one day he'll be able to introduce them to Magnus, say  _ this is the man I love, he's not anything like we've been told. _

But that day is not today.

÷÷÷

Several weeks later, his wounds have healed and he's completed both is physical and psych evaluations. Alec is officially cleared for duty. Things fall into a comfortable pattern.

They're assigned to patrol the 18th Sector, one of eight ships. Six are on duty, two of the crews on leave. Two months on duty, one month off. They mainly take down smugglers and pirates, occasionally investigate suspected Downworlder activity.

Alec loves having his sister on board, even if she's way too overqualified to be a ship's medic. He gets along with his new crew, who take the change in leadership well. 

He gives a general report to Meliorn once a week, and calls Magnus whenever he can. He also frequently messages the friends he made at Suake. Simon, Maia, and her partner Lily have a group chat. He grows closer to Clary, much to Jace's jealousy.

But no matter how good it is during the waking hours, he still startles awake from dreams for his dead crew, still reaches for a warm body besides him. Izzy notices of course. Both her and Jace are trying to respect his space. 

When he stares into the air looking at nothing, they assume he's thinking about his imprisonment and torture. Not his friends and the man he's in love with. When someone brings up Downworlders, to them he looked away because it brings up bad memories, but really he's trying not to defend them. 

Clary had the same problem. He can't imagine what it must be like for her, to know that everyone around her would hate her if they knew the truth about the people who are her family. If they knew the best friend she talks about frequently is a vampire, the stepfather she loves is a werewolf.

This is another thing that brings them together, bonds them. She understands him in a way no one else on this ship can. But he doesn't think that their friendship could be interpreted as anything else, until he finds Jace in his cabin after getting off shift. 

“I'm definitely not interested in Clary like that,” he says for the third time. “We're just  _ friends. _ ”

“It's fine if you're into her,” Jace says, also for the third time. “I'll stop flirting. And asking her out. Honestly, being turned down sixteen times in a row is a new experience for me. Obviously, she's not interested.”

_ But she is,  _ Alec wants to say,  _ she just doesn't want to have to lie about everything.  _

Instead, he says “I don't care what you do. But we're  _ not  _ together, and never will be.”  _ Because I'm only interested in men, and right now and probably forever, one in particular. But he's a Downworlder. Magnus Bane, the guy you think is responsible for the death of our former crew and my capture and torture! But that's not true! _

“Now, please get to your shift and let me fall asleep,” he adds.

“Yes, Captain.”

** _Part 8: Chernobyl_ **

First set on duty is fairly uneventful. The two months pass quick enough. Having his sister on board is more fun than he'd thought it'd be. He gets to know his crew of 36, both personally and how they work in the field.

Lydia is a great strategist, Mark and Christina are the people to turn to when negotiating is necessary. Aline and Helen are a great team (and he's pretty sure they're dating). Julian and Emma are  _ definitely  _ dating and can be found making out just about anywhere, anytime. Everything is running smoothly.

While on break month, you're technically allowed to go anywhere you want on your own money, but Alec normally just stays on Idris near Alicante.

His sister drags him out shopping, and Alec is struck once again for a longing for Suake, where the noon light doesn't reflect off the goods and metal, giving him a headache. They duck in and out of crowded department stores, so different than the street markets of homemade goods the Downworlders sell. 

They end the day at a hectic nightclub. 

“Magnus would love this place,” he muses to Clary, voice down so Jace and Izzy in line ahead of them don't hear.

“Absolutely. Personally, I like the Hunter's Moon better than any other place in the Galaxy. Good drinks, good music that  _ doesn't  _ burst your eardrums, and all my friends.” 

“Can't argue with that.” Alec wants to mention his and Magnus’ first date having been there, and he'd been hustled at pool by the Warlock, but closes his mouth when Jace turns to look back at them. 

The flash of hurt on his brothers face sends pangs of guilt through him. Despite reassuring Jace multiple times that there is nothing going on between them, he's not convinced. 

Of course, the first girl ever that Jace is genuinely interested in, Alec has a connection to he can't explain. He can't say  _ There's nothing romantic going on between us, we just spend a lot of time together because we're spies for the Rebellion our military is tasked with hunting down and obliterating.  _ He'd probably get locked up, though whether that was in a mental hospital or a prison would be decided by how convincing the story was.

When they finally get into the club, it's just loud and awful as it has looked from the outside. Izzy coaxes Clary on to the dance floor and Jace finds a group of girls to flirt with, sending the redhead wistful glances every couple of minutes. Alec heads to the bar.

The alcohol is cheap and awful, nothing like the aged wine Magnus likes to drink, or the home brewed beer Maia kept at her place. But hopefully, it'll get his mind off missing his boyfriend. He can't get smashed for fear of revealing something he shouldn't, but he  _ can _ get buzzed.

÷÷÷

Apparently buzzed still means a hangover. Not as bad Magnus and Jace have complained about in the past, but still. The throbbing in his head intensifies as he stumbles into his bathroom and gulps down water from the sink. After closing the blinds in his room, Alec grabs his dead personal communicator and plugs it in.

Then he joins his sister and father in the dining room, Jace being still asleep and Maryse in Sector 14 on duty. Breakfast is quiet, all of them too busy eating the meal prepared by the small house staff. His father hasn't really talked to him since he got back, not knowing what to say. Izzy and Jace rarely brought it up, at his request.

When he returns to his room he pulls up the latest episode of a crime show Simon had gotten him into. He's halfway through it when his communicator lights up with an incoming call. The caller ID is redacted, meaning it's probably military.

The woman on the hologram who pops up definitely looks it, though she's not in uniform.

“Captain Alexander Gideon Lightwood?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“Your presence has been requested by General Valentine Morgenstern at his base in Chernobyl. A car will arrive at Lightwood Manor at eight hundred tomorrow on the dot and will escort you to and from the base.”

Alec's first thought is that he's somehow been discovered. That he's going to walk in the base and be arrested for treason. Morgenstern is a Shadowhunter, the most elite of the Nephilim military. He's only spoken to him twice, right after the beginning of this mission and before that briefly at a party. But he's heard much from his mother. When your methods are brutal enough that even Maryse Lightwood questions them, well that's not someone Alec wants to be on the bad side of. Panic spikes through him.

He isn't given the opportunity to question the woman because after delivering her message, she hangs up.

He immediately locks himself in his bathroom and calls Magnus. His boyfriend is in pajamas, hair free of product, no make up.

“What a pleasant surprise, my love. I wasn't expecting a call for several more hours.”

“Sorry, babe. This is a work related call.”

After explaining to Magnus, then Meliorn and Clary once they're patched in, they debate over what he should do.

Magnus is in favor of extraction, effective immediately. The Warlock is convinced that Alec's been discovered and will be walking into a trap. Meliorn disagrees, arguing that spies are killed without preamble in the Empire. Morgenstern is cruel and downright  _ evil _ but wouldn't set a trap involving hauling Alec to a remote fort and executing him. He'd do it in a public place, make an example of Alec. Clary stays silent most of the call, unusual for her. He makes a mental note to catch her later and ask about it.

Then Jace texts him on his other communicator telling him to get his ass downstairs because they're leaving to go to lunch at Alicante in ten minutes.

It's decided, despite Magnus' protests, that he'll go to the meeting, but armed, and Clary will rent a car and park as near as possible without attracting the guards’ attention in case of trouble. 

÷÷÷

Alec is distracted during lunch with his siblings, and both of them notice. Izzy asks, but he just waves it off and says he's just tired of packing for redeployment in three days. Izzy complains for a good ten minutes about how stupid it is that she can only being so many bags, most of which is taken up by clothes. Jace points out that on the ship you're supposed to be in uniform most of the time, unless you're asleep or off duty for a several hour stretch, and that if she needs more make up she can buy some when they dock.

Towards the end of the meal he tries to mention offhandedly that he'll be busy all of tomorrow. His nosy sister wants to know why and Alec mumbles something about promising to help Helen help her younger brother Ty move into his new place. He'd heard her mention something about that a month ago.

Jace and Izzy both know he knows they know he's lying but thankfully don't ask. His sister smirks and Jace... his brother gives him a dirty look and doesn't talk to him the rest of the day.

÷÷÷

The promised car pulls up at eight sharp the next day. Alec waits outside in his uniform, ready to go as soon as possible, not wanting his siblings to see it. They're both in bed, but still.

It's a nice one, not self driving but still expensive. The driver doesn't speak once during the three hour drive to the base. Luckily, Alec brought his e-reader.

Eventually the small town that surrounds Morgenstern's base comes into view. 

Chernobyl sits in the middle of the town, taking up two or three blocks. Three stories of black stone, pipes belching dark smoke. There are bars on the few windows, and guards can be seen patrolling around the grounds and on the roof.

One guard checks the drivers credentials. Satisfied, he comms another guard who opens the gates. As Alec steps out of the car, he's assaulted by the smell of burning things and bleach. He wrinkles his nose.

“Ah, Captain Lightwood. Good to see you again.”

Valentine Morgenstern, in full uniform, metals adorning his chest, stands a few feet away. He extends a hand that Alec shakes. “It's good to see you again. I hope you've been recovering well after your time with those savages?”

Alec reminds himself to smile. “Oh course sir. All healed up. I start my second shift of duty in a couple days, actually.”

Morgenstern leads him into the building. “That's part of why I asked you here today, actually. But we can get to that in a moment. First, I wanted to give you a tour. I figure you of all people would be able to appreciate it.”

He doesn't understand that until they reach a scanner, which the general unlocks using his finger print. The door opens into a cell block. And Alec feels like he's going to throw up, 

Because it's less a cell block and more a collection of cages. In each and every one of them, is a Downworlder. Filthy, bloody covered, half starved Downworlders.

Unconsciously, Alec raises a hand to grab the bars of a cage, unable to tear his eyes away from the werewolf pup in it. The dark skinned boy is covered in burns from what he'd guess is silver.

“Pathetic, aren't they.” Morgenstern asks from across the room where he stands with his back to Alec. “I know that common practice is to put them out of their misery as soon as possible, for everyone's protection. But this place is as secure as it gets, and I can safely study them without fear of them killing innocents. And my research will help brave soldiers in the field, like you.”

_ They're innocents, you sick monster  _ is what he wants to say. Scream. But he has a job to do, a cover to maintain. Instead, he starts planning. 

÷÷÷

The tour wraps up in Morgenstern's office, the general at his desk, Alec in the chair across from him.

“Now, the real reason I called you here.” He slides a folder across the desk to Alec. “You and your crew are being reassigned. I realize this might be short notice, and I'm sorry for that.”

In the mildly thick file is a several witness reports and mission accounts. One of them is Alec's mostly made up one from his “capture”.

“You and your crew are being moved to head a special task force dedicated to the capture, and eventual death of Downworlder leaders, beginning with the High Warlock Magnus Bane.”

** _Part 9: Brocelind_ **

Alec's overall crew accepts the reassignment without much fuss. Jace and Izzy shoot him concerned looks, but he brushes off any attempts to talk. They seem to think hunting Magnus Bane will somehow trigger a breakdown. 

They'd be shocked and horrified to know that he has plans to meet Magnus in a highscale hotel in less than six hours.

Once he'd been dropped off at home by Morgenstern's driver, he'd pulled up a conference call with Clary, Magnus and Meliorn. They'd decided that a crisis like this required a face to face meet up. Time enough for Clary and Alec to disappear from the ship for several hours with attracting attention was a bit hard to arrange. Especially since Magnus had requested “a few hours just for Alexander and I.”

His cheeks still felt warm at the memory of the look his boyfriend had shot him. Only Magnus could be sexy as a twelve inch blue hologram.

“Alright, here's the plan.” He pulls up the file Morgenstern had given him on a holoscreen. Alec is standing on the Captain's platform, all his crew at the bottom of the steps, listening, except for Jace, who stands at his right. 

“As you all know, our new mission is locating and capturing, alive if possible, the Downworlder known as Magnus Bane. In four hours we will be docking in the largest city on Seelie known as Brocelind. According to our Intel, Bane has been spotted or rumored to be in locations all across this relatively small planet. “ 

He adjusts the projection, pulling up the names of all the ports, bars, warehouses, and other assorted places Magnus had supposedly been seen on Brocelind. 

“The first mate will remain on the ship, along with a skeleton crew. Everyone else, including myself, will be broken into teams of two or three and will travel to one if the locations, to question people and investigate. Teams and locations have already been sent to your personal comms. You will have 36 hours.”

He swipes a hand, shutting off the hologram before adding, “And remember, Bane has been evading capture for nearly 400 years. The Clave does not expect us to have him in chains by the month’s end. I honestly don't expect much from this mission, but it will serve as a building block for our investigation. We land in three hours, forty five minutes. Dismissed.”

The crew heads off to do whatever they need to in preparation, and Alec turns to do the same. But Jace grabs his arm. 

“Alec, why am I staying here? And Izzy? Let at least one of us back you up.” he begs.

“Jace, you're needed here.” Alec says firmly, already knowing his brother isn't going to let it go.

“I'm just worried about you. You've been acting weird. Izzy and I have been talking, and we don't think that chasing the guy responsible for your months of torture and the death of the  _ New York's  _ crew is going to be good for you or your mental health.”

Alec's heart twinges. He hates lying to them, causing them to worry. “Jace, I promise, I will be fine. But I need you to do as I order. If you can't, I can't have you as my second in command.”

His brother makes a small, surprised noise. It's always been their dream, their plan to have their own ship. Alec as Captain and Jace as his first mate. And they'd accomplished it, Alec being the youngest ever to make full Captain of his own ship. And Alec just implied that he'd drop that dream if he didn't comply with his wishes. 

Jace is so surprised he lets Alec slip from his grasp with no protests.

÷÷÷

The landing is smooth, as is the docking process. Jace doesn't look at him once, but Alec can't bring himself to worry about it now. He has to keep himself from sprinting out the doors, into the city where Magnus waits. But he holds himself back, Clary and him the last team to leave.

They hail a cab, where as far as the crew knows they will travel to a city called Dashalm, conveniently the second farthest location from the capital city they docked in that is on the list. 

Magnus has never been to Dashalm, but Alec added it to the list, not wanting to pick one of the locations that might_ actually _have information on the Warlock.

The cab drops them at a shopping center, where they purchase clothes meant to be worn at a Gala. High class, expensive stuff. 

The night is young when Clary and Alec step out of their second car of the evening, and into the grand foyer of the  _ Midsummer,  _ a high class, expensive hotel. They both smell faintly of alcohol, and they half walk, half stumble to the front desk.

“Excuse me ma-hic- madam.” Alec slurs his words, and adds in an accent. “I need to purchase your largest rooms!”

“Sir this is a hotel. You cannot purchase them, but you can rent then for as long as you need.” The receptionist frowns disapprovingly. 

He waves a hand, “Fine, fine,  _ rent. _ I need to rent your best set of rooms, ASAP.”

She taps on her screen. “I'm sorry sir, our largest suite is currently booked until next week. But I can give you the rooms across the hall.”

Alec opens his mouth as if to protest, but right on cue, Clary wraps her arms around him the side, leaning suggestively against him. “That'll be fine. We don't really plan on using much more that  _ one  _ area.” She giggles.

“Very well.” Alec makes the money transfer and they get key cards to the smaller suite on the top floor, after Alec instructs a page to get their bags.

The two make a spectacle of stumbling to the elevator, hands all over. The step apart as soon as the doors close. 

“Well, I think we were convincing.” Clary announces. She plays with the tips of her dark wig. “I like the hair too.”

Alec adjusts his suit jacket. “One thing is for certain, no one is going to think of the people staying in the Queen's suite and think military personnel. We're a good team.”

“Yeah.” The doors slide open into an empty hallway, with only two doors, one on either side of the long hall. They swipe a key card, and the door opens into the largest hotel room Alec has ever seen. 

“If this is only the _second _biggest room, I wonder what the next door neighbors’ looks like.” Clary muses. 

“We'll find out soon enough.” Alec spots their fancy suitcases next to the couch, already brought up. “Wow, they're fast.” 

Unzipping one reveals the duffle he left the  _ Thule _ with, holding his uniform and a more comfortable pair of pants and shirt.

“Changing already?” Clary asks from the kitchen, where she's investigating the fridge. “Magnus will be disappointed about missing you in a suit, especially one as tight as that.”

“There will be time for that later. If I'm wearing it tonight, we both know he's not going to be able to concentrate at all.”

“True enough.” She opens her mouth to say more, but freezes at a slight noise. Alec does too, going still. He's snuck out with his siblings enough times to know what a window being opened sounds like. And people climbing through one. 

They have guests.

Quickly, Alec motions with his hands, using the commands taught to all soldiers at the academy.  _ More than one, in the next room, your gun is in your bag. Mine is here, I'll go in. You be ready to go hand to hand _ . The red head nods in understanding, and together they move without a sound.

The door snaps open with a crack under Alec's foot, and the barrel of his gun goes instinctively to movement in the room. And drops as soon as he realizes what, and who, he's looking at.

“The hell are you two doing here?” Clary yelps from the doorway. 

In the spacious bedroom, Izzy and Jace stand, dressed in all black, and looking slightly sheepish. 

÷÷÷

Alec wants to punch something. Preferably either his brother or sister sitting on the couch across from him.

“I repeat Clary's question from before, what the hell are you doing here?” He practically growls.

“We followed you from the ship-” Izzy starts.

“ _ Why.” _

“Because you're acting weird.” Jace snaps. “You have been since your months with the Downworld bastards, which is to be expected after what they did to you Alec, but you wouldn't talk to us! And then Clary, and your friendship, and the day you snuck off for a whole day and came back looking terrible, and now. This whole plan makes so little sense, especially leaving us on the ship, and threatening to demote me!” 

Dang. He'd thrown out the threat in hopes of making Jace back off, not really meaning it. But evidently it was a step too far.

“We were just going to tail you for a bit before pulling you over and talking to you or something. There wasn't really a plan. But then you two went to that store and came out looking nothing like yourselves, obviously hiding. Please, we just want to understand what's going on,” Izzy begs. 

All of the excuses are valid, but Alec is still upset. Because they followed him here, and are now involved. And in even more danger.

“Clary, what time is it?”

“0016.”

“We're late.” Alec stands and turns to the door, “Follow us if you want answers, but I can't promise you'll like what you find.”

Predictably, both follow him into the hall, obviously confused when he only goes as far as their neighbor, knocking three times, then four, then two.

It swings open and Alec forgets to be angry. Because how can one be angry with Magnus Bane standing in front of them, looking amazing and very kissable. 

It's been over three months, but kissing Magnus feels the same. Same warmth and overwhelming feeling of happiness and home. Same citrus and sandalwood smell. Same intensity.

Magnus rests his forehead against Alec's, both panting a bit. Strong arms encircle him and Alec wants nothing more than to collapse, let his boyfriend take care of him. Wants to say  _ fuck this _ , find a ship, and move to some edge of the Galaxy where no one will ever find them.

He's snapped out of that dream by Jace's noise of protest, and the  _ click  _ of Izzy's gun, aimed at Magnus. 

Clary has her gun on Izzy in a heartbeat, as does Raphael who has appeared in the doorway behind Magnus. “The hell are they doing here?” Snaps the vampire. 

“They followed us,” Alec admits. “I didn't really have any choice but to bring them. I'm sorry. Now how about we all put the guns down and talk like reasonable people.”

“That's  _ Magnus Bane.”  _ Izzy stresses.

“I'm aware. He's also my boyfriend and I'd appreciate it if you didn't shoot him.”

“ _ Boyfriend?”  _ Jace gasps. His sister lowers the gun slowly, Clary and Raphael doing the same. 

“Much better,” Magnus says, laying a hand on Alec's arm. “Now I believe we owe you an explanation.”

÷÷÷

The suite the Downworlders’ have been renting for the past week, Magnus posing as a reclusive billionaire and the others sneaking through the windows, is indeed larger than the one he and Clary were using as a cover. 

“You're lucky we disabled security on this floor, or we'd have the local law enforcement swarming this place right now.” Simon tells Izzy and Jace.

They're sitting around the large dining table, but had dragged it into the lounge area in order to use the large screens and the more comfortable seating. 

Alec sits half on top of Magnus, their loveseat at the head of the table not really designed for two full grown males. Raphael sits directly across from them.

The seats on the two long sides had been replaced with couches. On Alec's left is the one holding Jace, Izzy, and Clary. They'd stuck the redhead next to the vampire, and kept shooting him dirty looks. But they still dig into the bread pockets of meat, rice, and beans he'd cooked up without protesting. 

On the other couch, Maia sits on the arm of the couch, boots on the table. Her flight partner, Lily Chen, is sprawled out on the other side. Simon sits between them.

Magnus nuzzles into his neck, the hand on Alec's waist slipping under his shirt. “You look good in a tux.” He murmurs. Alec goes hot everywhere. He hadn't had time to change.

“You were right about the PDA, Si,” Clary muses. He flushes, realizing all eyes are on them. “I thought you were over exaggerating, Alec never seemed it at the time. But-”

“Please don't finish that sentence,” Alec says, and everyone but his siblings and Raphael laughs. “I haven't seen him in three months! Can you blame us?” 

“Can we please go back to the purpose of this meeting?” Raphael requests, ignoring Lily's “but they're so cute!”

“I agree with the vampire. About the meeting or whatever.” Probably not a sentence Jace ever planned to say. “I want to know why I'm not supposed to be shooting all of you.  _ Especially  _ you.” He glares at Magnus.

“Because killing me would deprive the universe of much needed beauty?” The warlock suggests, running a hand through midnight dark hair, magic leaving it hot pink. God, he's hot. 

“Because he throws awesome parties, and he couldn't if he were dead.” Lily says firmly.

“Because both Alec and I will be very upset if you kill him?” Clary offers.

“But  _ why  _ would you be upset?” Izzy steps in. She turns to Alec. “He  _ hurt  _ you. How can you forget how injured you were? Their  _ people _ held you for months in captivity.”

“No Izzy. That's just what we told you.” Alec takes a deep breath. “Our crew captured Magnus, just like I told headquarters. But we did make the jump to SOL. But not far into it, um Raj. He was infected by the Lilithian virus. I was in the cell block, which is the-the only reason I survived. The rest of the crew- he-” Magnus squeezes his hand in support, taking over.

“Alexander beat him, but not before the rest of the crew died, and the  _ New York  _ was damaged beyond repair. We crashed on a desert planet, had no choice but to depend on each other to survive. For a month and a half, until we managed to repair the communication equipment.”

“I'm guessing that's when  _ this, _ ” Jace waves a hand, indicating their relationship status, “happened?”

“Yeah.” Alec can't help the small smile that slips across his face.

Lily throws a pen at him, which he easily dodges. “Quit being sappy,” the vampire demands. “It's nauseating.” 

Izzy and Jace both look... confused.

“So you were stranded on a planet together and fell in love, and this is what? A star crossed, clandestine lovers meetup?” Izzy asks.

Magnus smirks. “I wish darling. But no, this meeting has a more serious reason, unfortunately.”

“Me and Alec are spies.” Clary reveals. “He went undercover two weeks after his “escape”. Those injuries were purposely inflicted, to help his cover story. I've been training most of my life for this, to get into the inner workings of the Nephilim's military. My background is mostly fabricated, to help me get into the Academy.”

“So you've been lying to us, to me, the whole time?” Jace, for the first time tonight, sounds utterly devastated. “For a few Downworlders? Why?”

Maia scowls. “It's not  _ a few Downworlders.  _ It's hundreds of innocent people, hunted by you and your beloved military.”

“And they're my family.” Clary adds. “My mother is a Nephilim, was an officer. Luke, another officer and her friend, was turned in a werewolf attack. They fled, without knowing she was pregnant, leaving my biological father. They found the rebellion and got married, raising me within it. Helping these people, my family, is all I've ever wanted.

“I hated lying to you. That's why I never agreed to go out with you, I didn't want to have a relationship based on lies.” they lock eyes in an intense, emotional staring session.

It's broken by Raphael loudly clearing his throat. “Touching as  _ all that  _ was, we do have a purpose to be putting our lives at risk for this meeting. Lightwood, you said you had more information for us?”

“Yeah.” Alec reaches into his jacket and pulls out a sheaf of papers. “I drew out what I could remember of the layout and security, with Clary's help.” He spreads them out on the table.

Jace picks one up, frowning. “Wait, what's going on?”

Alec quickly explains the prison/scientific research facility Valentine Morgenstern is running, and the fact that they're currently trying to plan their way into it, freeing all the tortured Downworlders and preferably killing Morgenstern on their way out.

Both of his siblings are horrified, and declare their intentions to help.

Good thing, because it's Izzy, the doctor with the minimum of military training, who's the one with the winning suggestion.

“Why don't we just walk in, invited?”

÷÷÷

“Your siblings are really something.” Magnus comments. Alec smiles, pulling the door shut behind them.

“I know, right? I was super pissed to find out they followed me, but I guess it worked out in the end.”

Magnus  _ hums,  _ beginning the process of taking off his jewelry and placing it in the large wood box that sits on the dresser of the room Magnus had claimed in the larger suite. Alec flops down in the large bed, and his boyfriend's clothes that are scattered on it.

“I'm actually glad they followed you. I know how you hated lying to them.”

“I feel bad for dragging them into this. Assuming we don't all die, they'll spend the rest of their lives hunted.”

“I get the feeling they'd prefer that to losing you.” Magnus grins. “And Clarissa. Was I the only one who caught the looks between her and Jace? And Izzy and Maia?”

Alec sits up. “Izzy and Maia? I thought I saw Izzy and Simon for sure. Huh.”

The Warlock puts away the last of his adornments. “Threesomes are a thing, as is polyamory, Alexander.”

“No talking about my sister's sex life, please.”

“Is there someone else's sex life you'd like to talk about?” Magnus’ tone turns teasing. And because two can play at that game, Alec leans back onto the mounds of pillows.

“Well. You did say something about taking this tux off me.”

That night Alec sleeps better than he has in months, without nightmares and free of guilt, wrapped in the arms of the man he loves.

** _Part 10: Home_ **

The first step of their plan is probably the most flimsy. No one expects Alec to capture a man that's been on the run for centuries twice, in under a year. But they don't have time to waste on a pretend, more feasible, hunt. 

But the thing about victories is that no one wants to look twice at them. So if Alec and Clary's mission just  _ happens  _ to produce information leading them to a backwater agriculture based Habitable and a recently bankrupt farm near the equator that Magnus Bane just so happens to be visiting, not a lot of people are going to say "Doesn't this seem a little  _ too  _ easy?" 

Not until it's too late anyway.

÷÷÷

Magnus, Maia, and Lily put up a convincing fight. Lily actually gets shot, but there's very few things that a genuinely hurt a vampire for long. She's healed by the time Lydia is cuffing her and pushing her onto the  _ Thule _ . 

Of course Izzy had switched out all the cuffs on board with faulty ones last night, making them about as effective as a ribbon, but no one knows that.

Maia snarls at a few people, just to make it convincing. Magnus pretends to be drained, stumbling and looking defeated. If this wasn't a serious mission with dozens of lives hanging in the balance, Alec would be laughing.

He assigns a guard rotation for the Downworlders, and instructs the navigators to take them directly to Chernobyl. While traveling at SOL, they can't contact anyone outside the ship, and because of that, Alec will have a reason to show up at Morgenstern's faculty with very little warning. 

The trip will take 12 hours, so he busies himself best he can. He eats, works out some, visits with his crew for the last time, and sleeps the last five hours. He's going to need all the energy he can.

They pull out of SOL an hour from Idris' atmosphere, where Alec calls Morgenstern to tell them of their victory.

"Bane, and two others? Well done Lightwood. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting success so soon. Bit of an unfortunate date, but we can work with it!"

Unfortunate date, because today is the birthday of a hero from some old war who had been born and raised in the small town of Chernobyl. Not a big deal to anyone outside that town. 

But they were hosting a massive fair, and had requested extra security from the local base. So Morgenstern was slightly understaffed.

That had been intentional, as was the time they'd be landing. In the middle of the night, so no scientist. And at the end of a sixteen hour shift for most of the guards. Valentine himself looked like he was about to go to bed.

"I wish you had called  _ before  _ you left, to give me a bit of time to prepare."

"Sorry sir, but I didn't want to risk it. As you know, last time I lost Bane because we lingered before leaving, calling into headquarters and other little things that gave them time enough to find us and free Bane. This time we jumped as soon as the prisoners were secured."

The general nods, because this story makes sense, and because he has no reason to be suspicious. 

"Very well. Land in Bay 2, slot 6. I'll have guards meet you there to escort the prisoners to their new homes. You've done a great service to the Empire, Captain Lightwood. I see great things in your future career. There's a very high chance you could be granted the rank of Shadowhunter."

"Thank you sir, that would be an honor." A couple months ago, a statement like that might have made him pass out from excitement. Now he feels nothing.

With that, the screen goes black.

÷÷÷

As promised, guards are there to meet them at their landing dock. One soldier stands back, asking Alec to come with him to the General's office to finalize the transfer paperwork and reports. 

_ This is almost too easy,  _ Alec wants to think, but doesn't. He knows better. That's optimistic, and when you're optimistic, you let your guard down and are less prepared for plans to go off the rail. 

But no matter how much he tries to prepare himself, there are just some things Alec can't predict. 

Like finding Maryse Lightwood in Morgenstern's office, drinking tea and talking to him. 

_ Shit. Shitshitshitshit. _

His mother stands as he enters, smiling. She's dressed in her uniform, as he is, as her always is. 

"Alec, come in." Morgenstern says. "I have a surprise for you, as you can see."

"Mother. Hello. This is... unexpected."

"Indeed. There's a festival going on tonight, a tribute to a war hero that grew up here. It's normally not very big, but there was an exhibit about him in a museum in Alicante this past summer and they requested extra security, more than Valentine was capable of supplying. I lent him some of my soldiers, and decided to swing by to see an old friend. I'm so glad I did." She smiles even wider.

"Oh Alexander. I always knew you were meant for greatness." She glances at Morgenstern. "He attended the Academy a year early you know. The board was hesitant to let him, but he passed all the entry exams and physical tests with flying colors, and they couldn't find any reason not to."

Alec resists the urge to correct her, to remind her that she forced him to the Academy two years early, not one. To snap at the use of his full name from someone other than Magnus. 

Instead, he takes a deep breath and plasters on a fake smile, and manages to make small talk. The Generals both appear to have forgotten about the paperwork, busy recalling their days at the Academy. 

Thankfully, Alec is saved by Morgenstern's comm crackling to life.

"General, we have a little bit of a situation here. The first mate of the  _ Thule  _ is reporting a minor gas leak on the ship, and is requesting the crew be allowed to disembark while he checks it out, just in case."

"That shouldn't be much of a problem. Have the crew put in the break room, give them anything they need. Their Captain should be out soon enough." Valentine orders.

And that's Alec's signal. His hand curls around the metal handle in his pocket. 

Valentine hangs up the call and gives him a smile. "Hopefully there's nothing too wrong with your ship, though of course you are all welcome to the full extent of my repair crews. "

Alec nods and smiles graciously. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary." He pulls the modified taser from his pocket and zaps the man, who instantly collapses at his desk. Alec turns quickly to his mother, who joins Valentine swiftly. She hadn't even had time to scream.

An unexpected pang of guilt hits, seeing Maryse face down unconscious on the floor. But that will have to wait.

Alec drags Valentine away from his desk, after using his fingerprint to unlock the screen. As they'd expected, his desktop contains all the master controls. Alec swiftly unlocks all the cages and cells within the building, disables the collars and cuffs keeping the Downworlders in place, and locks most of the docking bays to make it harder for them to be pursued. A bit more challenging is disabling the alarms and the communications network. There won't be back up coming for quite a while. 

Finally, he secures his mother and Valentine to their chairs, and slips out the door. 

Outside is dark, the main lights shut off and only the emergency red ones illuminate the halls just enough to see. It will give Alec's team the advantage, because most Downworlders can see better in the dark than Nephilim,, and night vision goggles like the ones Clary and Izzy have aren't standard gear, especially for guards stationed in a remote base. 

It's easy to find his way to the landing dock, stepping over guards lying on the ground, evidence that the mission's going well. In the dark it's hard to tell whether they're dead or just unconscious.

His ship is right where he left it, the ramp down, people loading on to it. A werewolf points a gun at him and Alec throws up his hands. "Alec Lightwood. I'm with you." The pseudo guard lowers the weapon.

"How's everything going?" Alec asks.

"Good as it can I suppose. I was in the first of ten cell blocks. The people from block 7 just arrived and loaded up. I was told by the blond one to tell you to go in and talk to him for a full report."

"Thanks." Alec nods to him and goes to find his brother.

Jace is on the ground floor next to one of the computers, helping a vampire pull silver shards from a werewolf. Looking around, Alec wants to be sick. So many of these people are barely mobile. Their skin is scarred from burns and needle marks. A good fourth of them are children. 

He wades through the crowd to Jace. His brother looks up to ask, "Everything all right?"

"Yeah, it seems so. Mom and Morgenstern are knocked out in his office, and there's no way for the guards to contact the outside world without getting outside the base, which will be pretty hard while it's on lockdown."

"Alec!" He turns to find Magnus a few feet away, holding a child in his arms. A  _ Nephilim  _ child.

"Um, Magnus?" Alec looks pointedly at the kid. "Babe, this is a rescue operation not a kidnapping."

"I know, I know. We found him in one of the labs, all alone. He came right up to me and won't let me set him down or he'll start screaming." Magnus looks at Alec with pleading eyes. "He's super skinny. I don't think his parents, whoever they are, are very good ones. He says his name is Rafe, but won't give me a last name."

Rafe sniffles and buries his head in Magnus' shoulder, muttering "Mine."

His boyfriend shrugs, helpless. It was clear Magnus was not going to leave this child, and that Rafe was not letting go any time soon. Alec sighs. 

"I guess we have a kid now."

÷÷÷

They almost don't have enough room. They cram people in the lower floors, in the crew's quarters, in Alec's room. 

Maia leads the final group into the kitchen, telling Alec that Clary was doing one last sweep through. 

Everyone takes their places. Magnus on the Captain's deck, ready for liftoff. Jace, Lily, and Maia on the guns, to be joined by Alec and Clary as soon as possible. They're not expecting trouble, but they're not taking any chances. 

_ So close, so close, so close. _

Alec positions himself at the end of the ramp, gun in hand, in case Clary runs into trouble.

Trouble arrives, in the form of Maryse and Valentine. They must have freed themselves. The part of Alec that is still a little boy cringes at the look on his mother's face. Neither of them look very happy.

"Alexander Gideon Lightwood," his mother shouts. "What exactly is going on here?"

"I thought it was obvious mother." Alec spreads his arms, because neither of them have weapons. "We're freeing these people."

"They are not  _ people,  _ Alec, they are monsters. Drop your weapon and surrender now, and you might not be sentenced to death."

Alec laughs. "That's where you're wrong, mother. All my life you taught me that Downworlders were inherently evil. I wish I could introduce you to the man who taught me the truth. They are not anymore incapable of good than we are of bad. Everyone living is flawed, but everyone has a choice in what they do. By taking part in this, torturing people and experimenting on children, you have made yourselves the monsters.Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very sexy boyfriend waiting on me, and some people to help." 

Alec jerks his gun back up. Two shots fire. Both of the Generals drop to the ground. Maryse because of a bullet in the leg, fired from her son's gun. 

Valentine because of the bullet in his head, fired by Clary, standing behind them.

÷÷÷

Having people Manning the guns turns out to be unnecessary. They're not followed, and jump to SOL as soon as physically possible. 

Alec joins Magnus on the Captain's deck. Rafe is asleep in a cushy chair, wrapped in Magnus' jacket. Alec hugs him, and they stand there for a very long time, enjoying the ability to just  _ touch.  _

"I heard you shot your mother." Magnus says into the nape of his neck. "How are you holding up?"

Alec sighs. "Just in the leg, she'll live. Probably will never see combat again though. Honestly, I’m not feeling as guilty as I thought I would. It felt… good. To say those things to her, though it won't change her mind. Actually, this thing with all of her kids committing treason and throwing our lot in with the Downworlders, it probably makes her hate you even more. But I can't bring myself to care."

Magnus pulls back and smiles at him. "Lillith, you've come so far. I love you, Alexander Lightwood."

"I love you too, Magnus Bane."

** _Epilogue: one year later_ **

Alec woke up to a grinning blue face, and a smile missing several teeth.

"Daddy! Time to wake up!"

Despite how tired he was, he couldn't help but smile at his youngest son. His miracle child.

In the same lab that Rafe had been found in, there had also been a Warlock child, likely older than even Magnus, yet kept looking two by a cryogenics pod. They weren't sure how Morgenstern's people had obtained him, but everyone was thankful they'd recovered him before they'd unfrozen the child.

Alec had been the one to suggest adopting him, after he'd gone by the hospital in Suake his sister had begin working at, where they were helping the child through extensive physical therapy. Just as Magnus had fallen in love with Rafe, had known that he was  _ supposed  _ to be a part of their family, Alec had felt that instant connection to the warlock child.

They'd named him Max, in honor of the youngest Lightwood.

"Come  _ on,  _ we have to go meet auntie Maia and auntie Lily!" Max urged.

"Sweet thing, that's not until much later." Alec peaked at the clock to confirm this, just in case he'd slept longer than intended. "Where's your papa and big brother?"

"They had to go to the store and Papa said I'm in charge of waking you up." Max poked him repeatedly in the cheek. " _ Come on." _

"Alright, alright. If you insist."

Max grinned, delighted at his victory. As a reward, Alec got a big, wet kiss on the cheek.

Things really hadn't gone as he'd once planned, but somehow Alec couldn't bring himself to mind. 

** _The End_ **

**Author's Note:**

> this fic almost doubles my word count on this site, and is by far the longest thing I've ever written. By the time i finished copying and pasting it, my mac and cheese was cold


End file.
